


Guardian Angel

by childofdreamz



Series: Wayward Dream Saga [1]
Category: Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Gen, Mild Blood, Mild Language, My First AO3 Post, POV Third Person, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 99,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childofdreamz/pseuds/childofdreamz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place four years after the end of 02. One day Takeru is attacked by a devil like Digimon on the way home from school. This same Digimon then declares that he wants to kill Takeru and erase Patamon forever. When reality turns out to be illusions and nightmares began to collide with reality can Patamon keep Takeru safe without dying himself?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.
> 
> This is a cross-post from FanFiction.net under the same username I use here. This story is already completed so I just have to post all the chapters up. I use Japanese names instead of English ones because I prefer the Japanese names for a lot of things. I try to make it obvious who I am talking about when using Japanese Digimon names, but it may still not be obvious so I apologize for that.
> 
> Any way I hope you enjoy the story :3

Chapter One Beginning of the End 

It was mid November in the year 2006 and while it was cool enough to wear a jacket or sweater outside it wasn’t cold like the winter months were. Many Japanese students were beginning their preparations for their exams to get into either High School or College, but for those who didn’t have either cram school or after school activities it was time to head home after a long day at school. Takeru, who had neither, sighed as he walked down one of the many streets of Odaiba, but one of the few that would lead him to the apartment complex where he lived with his mother, Natsuko and his best friend, Patamon.

He was wearing a junior high school uniform similar to what his brother had once worn, the one with the white button up shirt that had a button up dark green jacket that went over it and the plain grey pants. The green boots he wore were of his own taste as well as his signature white bucket hat, which he had been unable to wear while attending classes so he had put it on after he had gotten out of class. He had to admit that he was ignoring some of the school rules by wearing it and if a teacher saw him with it awhile they were feeling particularly mean he could easily get into trouble. That he had done this for the past three years and had yet gotten into trouble made him not really that worried about it because it would be strange that someone would just now be getting mad at him for it. Due to the weather Takeru had also added a hooded green sweat-shirt with a pocket on the front.

The teen had grown during the past four years only being an inch or two shorter than his older brother now who, much to Takeru’s delight, seemed to have finally hit the end of his growth spurt so there was a chance the younger teen would catch up to him. Slung over his shoulder was a green messenger bag that held his school books and notes inside of it along with his green and white D-3, the grey D-terminal and a green notebook. The green notebook was special compared to the others that were stored in his bag for he wrote down things that randomly popped into his head that might help him write the books he had planned to write. The bag had a small pouch attached to the shoulder strap that held his dark green razor cell phone inside of it as well as a netted pocket on one side of it that was used to hold water bottles.

Things had been as peaceful as they could be for the teen and his friends since their last major battle for the safety of the real world and Digital World four years ago with Belial Vamdemon. There had been one rough spot for them three years ago when Diablomon had returned to extract his revenge which, much too every ones happiness, hadn’t taken too long to stop. It was nice to be able to live a normal life in which he didn’t constantly have to make a run to the Digital World to save something or someone. He hadn’t really minded doing it of course, but he liked the idea of going to the Digital World because he wanted to not because he had to. _Of course my life isn’t completely normal_ , Takeru thought to himself smiling as he glanced up at Patamon, who was currently asleep on top of his head which was of course his normal spot to be. The small Digimon was never far from Takeru unless Patamon believed he needed some time to himself. Not everything was completely perfect for the two best friends, but then again it was better than not having him at all.

What Takeru really found nice was there was no longer any need to fear what would happen if someone found out about his little digital friend, something him and the other Chosen Children had always been worried about in the past. Like Patamon was now, he could go anywhere with Takeru that he wanted without having to worry about people freaking out on them or calling the police. In all honesty, there were some places Digimon had been banned, but those places were slowly removing the ban and people still panicked once in awhile, but mainly because the person had become scared of Digimon, not because they had never seen one before.

No longer having to hide was due to what had happened after the battle with Belial Vamdemon. Everyone had learned about the existence of the Digital Monsters let alone the Digital World to where it was now impossible for the Chosen Children, or the Japanese government for that matter, to cover it up once again like what had happened when he was a small child so long ago when Greymon and Parrotmon had fought damaging the apartment building he had lived in back then. It kind of made him wonder if they still would blame the incident on terrorist or if they would find the truth about what had happened to the apartment complex.

Not that the Chosen Children had wanted to hide it from people in the first place. In fact, they would have been happy if they had been able to walk around freely with their Digimon a lot sooner. The only reason they had was because they had been afraid of the reactions the adults would have after seeing such things as the attacks from Diablomon and Vamdemon and the before mention incident with Greymon and Parrotmon. They also weren’t the only ones covering up what had happened and it wasn’t like they could have asked the Japanese government to stop. It was even less likely that people would believe a bunch of kids over the government as well.

It had been better for the sake of their Digimon friends and the Digimon they didn’t know to keep it hidden like they had, but now no amount of cover up would have made things go back to what they once were. Takeru had been surprised that they had been able to hide it for as long as they had especially after what Vamdemon had done by going out into the real world and kidnapping all those children in his search for Hikari. Not to mention the plane that had been brought down or the very largely broadcasted battle with Diablomon over the internet.

In some ways it was better the whole world now knew about Digimon, some companies had even started making things that catered more to Digimon then humans, but in others… It had and was still causing a lot of trouble for Digimon, the Digital World and the Chosen Children as well. Of course they will and always will deal with any problems that they could but not everything that was going on could they alone fix.

For the moment, thankfully, there were only two things that the Chosen Children had to worry about with everyone finding out about Digimon and the Digital World. The first was how the governments of the world where reacting to Digimon and the Digital World. The other was how some of the new “Chosen Children/Adults” where acting with their newly acquired Digimon. The first was causing the worse problems for the Chosen Children then the later one was.

Takeru personally believed that the more the government found out about the Digital World and Digimon the more they disliked the idea of it all together. Like the fact Digimon could freely come and go between the two worlds, but humans required a Digivice to do so which a lot of people now a days had so they really didn’t have a right to complain about this one. There were of course some governments that didn’t have a bad view about Digimon due to the fact they had gotten Digimon of their own at some point during the four years. This caused them not to be biased against Digimon because they knew just how Digimon behaved and could even go to check on things in the Digital World. The other government on the other hand, that didn’t have Digimon, believed those with Digimon where in fact being biased which resulted in a lot of fighting between the two groups every time the Digital World was brought up..

Both Daisuke and Taichi believed that the ones who were upset where mainly so because a bunch of kids had happened to “stumble” upon the Digital World and it was the same bunch of kids, well mostly, that had ended up revealing it to the entire world. The later had made the government look very bad especially when it was found out that the government did know about the Digital World and had kept it hidden the entire time. It was even worse for the Japanese Government because out of all the Worlds government they knew the most about Digimon and had covered up more than any other nation in the world.

The governments also had a way of blowing things out of proportion to the public which made it harder for the Chosen Children to keep them calm when they had to take care of rouge Digimon within the real world. Some of them really believed that all Digimon were like Diablomon and Vamdemon which made them want to send all the Digimon back to the Digital World and keep it closed forever. Taichi had, at one point, decided to be the human representative of the Digital World while Agumon was the Digimon one, but with Taichi now getting ready to enter college things hadn’t been very easy for him. He also had a lot to overcome because not many people were willing to listen to someone as young as Taichi was even when Sora’s Father, Haruhiko and Jou’s middle brother Shuu were helping him. The other Chosen Children’s parents were also trying to help him as much as they could, but they had their own jobs to worry about as well. Takeru and Hikari had tagged along on several occasions because Taichi believed both Patamon and Tailmon were a perfect example of a good Digimon. Patamon’s adult form and Tailmon’s perfect form had helped to convince some that Digimon weren’t all bad and out to take control over the human world. It also had a negative effect that none of them had really anticipated. Some of the world religions saw Angemon’s and Angewomon’s forms as a form of disrespect towards their religion.

As for the problem with some of the new human and Digimon partners, the Chosen Children had found out there were some advantages to being some of the first with digital partners. So far Takeru and his friends were the only ones capable of getting their Digimon to evolve higher than their adult form due to the help they had received from Qinglongmon. This meant their higher evolutions were no longer impossible to achieve like they had been when Daisuke and the others had first joined the group. This made most of the newer partners who were acting out or causing havoc quite easy to deal with because in the end the Chosen Children could just over power them if they had to and f worse came to worse they would revert the Digimon back to their egg form. They’ve only had to do it a few time so far and after doing so they hadn’t really had problems with them again. Takeru knew from personal experience that seeing your Digimon go through that was not something anyone would want to see again unless their heart was truly made of ice.

There had been some cases when the human had received their Digimon partner where the Digimon was already in a form higher then adult and these proved harder to deal with, but were thankfully rare. Most of the time when they had to deal with ones like this was because the Digimon did not realize just how much damage someone with his or her power could do within the human world. When the Chosen Children would beat them, most of them still retained the ability to evolve to their higher forms, but only if something was threatening the human they were partnered with. Thankfully, the Chosen Children usually didn’t have to deal with repeat offenders.

With the Digital World completely opened now it wasn’t hard to travel around the world to stop any trouble that wasn’t happening in Japan. Also, others around the world that were more than willing to help out where they could so it was only if it was a really strong Digimon causing trouble that the Chosen Children had to deal with it. There were other advantages to this such as the Chosen Children could visit Mimi and their other friends, who lived outside of Japan, whenever they wanted to without having to pay for airplane tickets. Of course their friends could do the same thing if they decided they wanted to visit Japan. Even their families weren’t really limited by this because many of them had gotten Digimon of their own by now. A couple of the parents had yet to receive theirs such as Takeru’s mother, but Takeru believed it was only a matter of time before it happened especially since his father had gotten a Digimon about a month ago. What was interesting was that his father had gotten a Tunomon and though it had yet to evolve Koushirou believed it would take a different evolution route then Gabumon had.

Takeru stopped both in walking and his thoughts without warning causing Patamon to almost fall off his head which caused the small Digimon to wake up. “Huh?” Patamon mumbled sleepily as he tried to keep from falling off completely. Takeru had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized that for some time now he was the only person walking down this street. There weren’t even any cars driving by which at this time of day there were always at least a few cars on the street. Well more than a few because he lived in Odaiba but still something was off and he didn’t like it. Patamon yawned and climbed down onto Takeru’s shoulder. “What’s wrong Takeru?” he asked tilting his head slightly to the side a weird habit Patamon had picked up from a cartoon character he liked watching on television. Since Patamon did it so much Takeru had caught himself doing it a few times and was always trying to stop himself from doing it as well.

Takeru looked at Patamon. “I’m not sure Patamon… Something just doesn’t seem right,” Takeru told him as he began to glance around. Takeru was about to start walking again when a high pitch whine started emitting from his bag causing both him and Patamon to jump in surprise. The teen began to dig through his bag in order to find the source of the sound. As for Patamon, he had flown a few feet away from him to a tree and was holding his paws over his ears trying to block the sound out. Sometimes Patamon didn’t like having ears as large as his due to incidents such as this. Takeru pulled his D-terminal out of his bag which was emitting the high pitch whine but the sound was still coming from his bag as well and if Takeru had to guess he would say it was his D-3 that was also making the noise.

Takeru wasn’t holding the D-terminal for very long before it started becoming very hot and with a yelp he dropped the D-terminal back into his bag. This time instead of taking the chance of burning his hand he turned the messenger bag upside down dumping all of its contents onto the side walk so he could find it easier. He got down on his hands and knees as he began to dig through his school books and notebooks trying to find the D-terminal. “What a time for having homework from all my classes!” he grumbled as he continued to look. Right now he was very tempted to throw his school books and notebooks out of the way. When he finally found it Takeru’s eyes widened as the whine from both the objects finally stopped. “Patamon!” Takeru called for his small friend the shock very evident in his voice.

Patamon, having heard Takeru call him even with his ears covered, quickly flew over to his friend and landed on Takeru’s right shoulder concerned by Takeru’s tone of voice. “Takeru what’s wro-“  Patamon started but stopped when he saw what exactly Takeru was staring at. The D-terminal was partially melted not enough to not be able to tell what it once was, but enough for even the two of them to tell the circuits inside had been fried to where it would most likely no longer operate.

Both of them panicked then because they both believed that the other whining sound had been coming from Takeru’s D-3. The two began to search through Takeru’s stuff in order to find it. When they had finally found it they let out a sigh of relief because the D-3 was still in one piece even if it proved a little warm to the touch when Takeru had carefully poked it with his finger. Just to make sure it was alright Takeru pushed one of the buttons and was happy to find out it was still completely functional. _I hope Patamon can still armor evolve without the D-Terminal,_ Takeru thought as he glanced at the D-terminal wondering what had caused it to melt like that.

Takeru put the D-3 in his pocket as Patamon and he began putting things back into his bag. They were almost done when another noise sounded making them jump yet again until Takeru realized it was his cell phone still in the pouch on the bags strap. “We’re too jumpy,” Takeru laughed as he sat down on the side walk with Patamon beside him. He pulled his cell phone out of the pouch and answered it, “Hello?” He had barely moved the phone next to his ear when he had to pull it away again upon hearing three people shouting as they tried to over talk each other. Takeru glanced at the caller I.D. real quick to find out it was Daisuke’s cell phone that had called him. With that he knew the three voices were Daisuke, Hikari and Iori which he was a bit shocked Iori was shouting. Unlike him all three had after school activities so the three of them were still together at the school.

Unlike the four of them Miyako did not attend the same school as them because she had graduated last year. As for Ken his parents had wanted him to keep attending schools where they lived even if he could use the Digital World to quickly travel to their school. He sighed then placed the cell phone near his ear again. “Calm down I can’t understand any of you like this!” Takeru shouted trying to overpower the three voices. How he did he wasn’t sure, but after shouting at them he heard a bit of an argument for awhile between Hikari and Daisuke on who was going to talk first. He sighed again, then waited patiently for the two of them to finish.

“Takeru-kun it’s me Daisuke! You’re not going to believe what just happened!” Daisuke shouted. Takeru wasn’t quite sure if Daisuke was excited or upset there were times that he had a hard time telling when he was talking to Daisuke over the cell phone. It was a lot easier when they were talking face to face because Takeru could read the emotions on his face easier than he could anyone else’s because Daisuke never tried to hide what he was feeling.

Takeru glanced at his D-terminal believing he could guess what Daisuke was about to say. “I have a feeling I will…” He sighed as he patted Patamon gently on the head. Whether it was to reassure his little friend or himself he wasn’t quite sure.

“All three of our D-terminals just melted! Oh yea Iori and Hikari are with me,” he said adding the last bit as an afterthought remembering Takeru couldn’t see them at the moment.

Takeru shook his head wondering what exactly was going on. “Mine melted as well. Did your D-terminal and D-3 happen to give off a high pitched whine before it happened?” He asked tapping what was left of his D-terminal with his boot afraid it was still too hot to touch with his hands. Just how he was supposed to get this fix he hadn’t a clue. At least for the most part his cell phone could act in its place. The only problem was cell phones didn’t work while one was in the Digital World, well you could take pictures with them but that was about it, so he wouldn’t be able to communicate with the others if they had to split up for some reason while doing something in the Digital World. Of course with theirs gone it meant none of them could communicate so it really didn’t matter at the moment. It made Takeru wonder why they had all melted and how it had manage to happen in the first place.

Takeru heard a bit of a discussion before he heard what sounded like the cell phone being handed to someone else. “Takeru this is Hikari. Our D-terminal’s did let out the whine you were talking about, but our D-3’s didn’t. Is your D-3 okay?” She asked and he could clearly hear the concern in her voice. Hikari’s emotions where always a lot easier to figure out when one spoke to her over a cell phone, if one were to compare her to Daisuke that is.

“Its fine I just checked it before the three of you called,” Takeru told her resting his hand on his D-3 in his pocket. He then heard a ring tone that Hikari used to let her know when she got a text message on her cell phone and once again the cell phone was passed to someone else. “Takeru this is Iori, Hikari just got a text message from Ken and Miyako. The same thing has happened to their D-terminals as well,” he informed Takeru.

Takeru sighed as he thought. He didn’t like this at all it didn’t really matter for him and Hikari that they had melted because they had their other forms, but for Daisuke and the others their Digimon had no forms past their adult form. Yes, they could Jogress evolve to higher stages, but only if they were next to the other person and Digimon they were partnered with. When they were by themselves though their strongest forms were their armor stages and if they couldn’t evolve into them thanks to the D-terminal melting then that could cause them problems. _I don’t think it would really matter; they’re just there to help like the Digivice’s. Digimon still evolve without the aid of a Digivice so most likely it’s the same with the D-terminal… I hope any way,_ Takeru thought as he heard the others discuss what might have made this happen in the background.

Takeru looked up at the sky as he thought his eyes narrowing slightly when he noticed something. “Iori I’m going to have to call you back…” he said then closed the phone so it would hang up on its own. Patamon glanced at Takeru. He had just finished picking the rest of Takeru’s stuff and placing it back in the bag when he heard the conversation had ended. The small Digimon blinked wondering what was going on with the D-terminals. Nothing like this had ever happened to anything the Chosen Children had gotten from the Digital World. The only thing that could really compare to this was when they had given up their tags and crest in 2000, but they had chosen to do so in to add another layer of protection to the Digital World. Patamon had good enough hearing that he could hear what Daisuke and the others had told Takeru so he knew it had happened to theirs as well.

“Takeru, why would the D-terminals melt like that?” Patamon asked as he watched Takeru put his cell phone back into the bags pouch as he kept his eyes to the sky.

Takeru was no longer concerned with what had happened to the D-terminal and he didn’t really have an answer for Patamon so for the moment he said nothing. The teen had spotted what he believed to be a Digimon and was trying to confirm whether or not he was really seeing one. It wasn’t uncommon for newer Digimon to get separated from their partner so he was wondering if the Digimon was lost and if the two of them should go help it. Lost Digimon had ways of causing trouble without meaning to so it would be best if it were a lost one to get it back to its partner and fast. Takeru was just about to tell Patamon what had caught his attention when, without warning, Patamon evolved into Angemon with a flash of light coming from Takeru’s D-3 to aid with the evolution. Takeru cried out in surprise as the angel Digimon quickly grabbed Takeru and his bag jumping backwards and flapped his wings once to make his movement faster.

Angemon hadn’t gotten very far when Takeru spotted a large black orb of energy hit the ground where he had been moments before understanding exactly why Angemon had picked him up and had moved like that. Chunks of cement from the sidewalk were sent flying in all directions as the orb exploded on impact. Angemon quickly turned around to keep Takeru from getting hit by any of it and the shock wave that came from the explosion. Takeru coughed from the smoke like stuff in the air covering his mouth with his sweater sleeve as he leaned to the side slightly so he could see past the angelic Digimon’s wings. It took him a moment before he could see past all the dust floating around but when he could his eyes widened.

Where he had once stood was a very large crater in the ground the building beside it use to have large glass windows but the explosion had caused them to shatter. His D-terminal was sitting near the edge of the crater none the worse for wear which seemed odd to him. The ground should have shook when the explosion had occurred so why hadn’t it fallen into the carter? He shook his head, Takeru didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if Angemon hadn’t gotten the both of them away from the attack. Takeru uncovered his mouth so he could speak. “Thank you, Angemon,” he coughed burying his mouth in the crook of his arm to keep from inhaling more of the dust that was floating around.

Angemon nodded as he gently sat Takeru down handing him his bag as he moved to stand in front of him to protect him from anymore attacks that may come their way. Takeru glanced past Angemon wondering if the Digimon that had attacked had come closer, but when he didn’t see him he turned his attention to Angemon’s back. Takeru could see where the sharp pieces of cement had hit him by the way his feathers were damaged. There were some places were his wings didn’t cover his back that were bleeding slightly. If they remained after he de-evolved Takeru would treat them then, but he pushed it to the back of his mind for now because by the way Angemon was standing he could tell whoever had attack was in fact still around.

Angemon had his attention focused on the skies having judge that the attack had come from atop of one of the many skyscrapers in the area. He had been able to narrow it down to a few skyscrapers and was now trying to figure out which one it had come from when he spotted something. On top of one of the skyscrapers he had narrowed it down to stood a Digimon that Angemon had never seen before and he doubted any of his friends had seen one quite like it though it did remind him of a cross between himself and Devimon. Like Angemon this Digimon had a male human like form and was the same height as him. Unlike Angemon and most Digimon who had a human shape he wore no mask showing his dark red eyes with cat like pupils. His hair was black and cut short and spiked in several different directions while his ears were pointed with several piercings on one while the other had one large earring. From his back came one black angel wing and one black demon wing. His left arm was the same as Devimon’s while his right arm was covered in black coarse fur. He wore no shirt showing several scars across his chest, but he did wear pants and boots similar to Devimon’s with fur peaking barely visible over the belts hinting that maybe his lower half of his body was covered in fur like his arm. Grinning down at Angemon and Takeru the Digimon revealed that he had very sharp teeth.

Something about this Digimon felt off to Angemon, but he wasn’t sure just why he did. Angemon knew that you couldn’t always judge a Digimon by his appearance and even if this Digimon hadn’t just attacked them Angemon wouldn’t have trusted him. Angemon shifted his position making sure Takeru was completely behind him not sure what he could expect from this Digimon. Right now Angemon was wishing Takeru had waited for Iori to finish up with his Kendo practice like Iori had asked him so at least he wouldn’t be fighting this Digimon alone. He had a very bad feeling that the Digimon was not in the adult stage like he was.

“Takeru try to stay behind me,” Angemon told him as his grip tightened on his staff to where if his knuckles weren’t already white they would be now. The angelic Digimon had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end nicely…


	2. An Illusion or Reality?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angemon and the mysterious Digimon end up fighting. At the end of the fight Takeru and Patamon cannot figure out just what really happened and what was all a simple illusion. Not knowing what to do they continue on with their day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.
> 
> A/N - Two chapters in and I already love AO3 :3

Chapter Two An Illusion or Reality?

_Something about this Digimon felt off to Angemon, but he wasn’t sure just why he did. Angemon knew that you couldn’t always judge a Digimon by his appearance and even if this Digimon hadn’t just attacked them Angemon wouldn’t have trusted him. Angemon shifted his position making sure Takeru was completely behind him not sure what he could expect from this Digimon. Right now Angemon was wishing Takeru had waited for Iori to finish up with his Kendo practice like Iori had asked him so at least he wouldn’t be fighting this Digimon alone. He had a very bad feeling that the Digimon was not in the adult stage like he was._

_“Takeru try to stay behind me,” Angemon told him as his grip tightened on his staff_ _to where if his knuckles weren’t already white they would be now. This wasn’t going to end nicely…_

Takeru could see Angemon’s muscles tighten as he prepared to fight and could sense just how nervous his angelic Digimon was which Takeru didn’t like at all. It was rare that Angemon would show just how nervous he was and the fact he was showing it to told Takeru just how much he was worried about what was going on. Takeru slung his bag back over his shoulder and reached for his cell phone to call the others for back up. If Angemon was nervous then this Digimon wasn’t something to try and take down on his own. The teen did not want to take the chance of losing his Digimon. He never wanted to go through that experience ever again and he wouldn’t if he could do anything about it.

Suddenly the Digimon disappeared and before Angemon could relocate him the dark Digimon had reappeared behind Angemon and Takeru. Takeru and Angemon quickly turned around. When the angelic Digimon attempted to get in between the Devimon look-alike and Takeru he ran into a barrier that shocked him with black electricity. The barrier had been set up to where it separated Angemon from Takeru and the devil Digimon. “Agh!” Angemon shouted as he took a few steps back. He twirled his staff and slammed it against the barrier hoping to break it. The electricity surrounded the staff and traveled up it shocking Angemon once again. He pulled his staff away trying to think of another way to break the barrier.

The Digimon looked at Angemon and grinned once more. “Calm down angel boy I’m not going to hurt him… Yet…” he told him adding the last part almost like an afterthought causing Angemon to attempt to break through the barrier once again. Takeru attempted to move away from the Digimon while he reached for his cell phone once again, but the Digimon grabbed Takeru by the face with his Devimon like hand and his right wrist by his human hand as he squeezed slightly to discourage Takeru from trying to get his cell phone with his left arm. “Ah~ now don’t ruin my fun by calling your little friends…” the Digimon said as he practically purred his words.

 “So this is the Chosen Child of Hope…” he said as he looked Takeru up and down. Takeru saw the Digimon’s eyes flashed for a moment which made Takeru attempt to pull away from him only to have the Digimon tighten its grip on him. “If I get rid of him this whole mess would end and his friends would be on their way down hill without him…” the Digimon stated as he thought aloud while he tightened his grip even more to where he dug the points of his fingers into the teens cheeks, four on one side the fifth on the other, causing Takeru to wince.

As blood began to run down his cheeks from the wounds inflected by the Digimons sharp fingers another bright light flashed from his D-3 causing Angemon to evolve further into Holy Angemon. The angelic Digimon then destroyed the barrier with the purple energy sword known as Excalibur. He also attempted to cut the Digimon’s arm off with the same swing of the sword. The Digimon, however, quickly jumped backwards letting Takeru go to avoid the attack and laughed as he did so. Then he looked as his claws noticing a bit of blood on them. “Ops, it appears I did hurt him,” he laughed. Then the insane demonic Digimon looked at Holy Angemon and Takeru as he suddenly began to sing:

_Red, red as the blood on his hands,_

_But does Red care? Oh they find it great fun_!

The Digimon started to laugh again once he finished his song. Holy Angemon took the opportunity to quickly step in front of Takeru once again. Something about the song made Takeru glad that his angelic Digimon was in between him and that Digimon once again. “What exactly is it that you want?” Takeru asked while he wiped the blood off his cheeks with the back of his hands as he glared at the Digimon from behind Holy Angemon. It made him feel a bit foolish to only be glaring at him now that Holy Angemon was in between him and the Digimon, but then again Takeru wasn’t stupid enough to provoke a Digimon when there was no chance of avoiding an attack from them. Of course that didn’t mean he hadn’t done it before or that he wouldn’t do it again sometime in the future.

“What do I want? Hmm… Interesting question what do I want?” he pondered as he grinned a Cheshire cat grin while he tapped his chin with one of his human-like fingers his attention on the sky. “That’s easy!” he declared while he looked at them once more. “I want to erase the two of you from this world and the Digital World _forever_! I want to see what would happen if “Hope” was gone as well as end this game!” he shouted at them then he laughed once again almost dancing at the mere thought of it.

“Do you really think I’d let you kill him?” Holy Angemon shouted at the dark Digimon holding his shielded left arm in front of him and his right arm to the side with Excalibur extended.

The Dark Digimon continued to laugh for a bit before he answered him, “You won’t be able to stop me, but I’m not going to do it right now. That wouldn’t be any fun at all!” he then vanished again really leaving them alone this time.

Takeru and Holy Angemon continued to stare at the spot the Digimon had been until both of them realized they were hearing cars drive by. Some of them were even honking their horns at them. Not to mention people were beginning to stop and stare at Holy Angemon many of them knowing him as one of the Digimon that fought the evil Digimon from seeing him on television a few times. Takeru quickly glanced around noticing the hole in the side walk was gone, the windows had not been shattered and his D-terminal wasn’t lying on the ground anymore.

While Holy Angemon began to reassure the crowd that was beginning to gather that nothing was wrong that he had simply evolved to get rid of some built up energy Takeru pulled his D-terminal and cell phone out of his bag. The D-terminal looked like its normal self, but when he tried to turn it on as if he was going to send a message the D-terminal wouldn’t turn on. Eyes narrowing he put the D-terminal back into his bag and flipped his phone open to check the caller I.D. which told him that Daisuke’s cell phone had not called him and that he hadn’t received any calls since he turned his cell phone back on after leaving school. There weren’t any new text messages either just replies he had received when he had sent some out before school had started. Takeru could still feel the weight of the D-3 in his pants pocket which meant it had stayed where it had been moved during what had happened. _What exactly was going on?_ Takeru wondered as he stared at his cell phone.

When Patamon landed on his shoulder Takeru showed him his cell phone as he looked at his small friend a look of pure confusion on his face. “How much of that really happened and how much was just a trick?” he asked his small friend only to get a shrug in response.

Patamon then moved closer to Takeru’s face and poked his cheek with one of his fingers causing Takeru to wince slightly. The small Digmon then backed up a bit and spoke, “The wounds are still on your cheeks.” Patamon then showed Takeru the blood that was on his finger from poking his cheek.

“While yours are gone, though whether that’s because you devolved or not, I don’t know,” Takeru said and shook his head before he glanced at his cell phone. “Until we know for sure what’s really going on and what wasn’t real it might be a good idea to keep this to ourselves. At least for now... There is no reason to alarm anyone with what just happened especially with how busy everyone is at the moment,” he told Patamon as he put his cell phone back up in its pouch. Patamon slowly nodded in agreement not sure if that was wise or not, but decided he would leave the decision to Takeru. The small Digimon climbed on top of Takeru’s head lying down in a position he hoped wouldn’t get him thrown off if Takeru suddenly stopped again.

Takeru glanced around once more to see if he had missed anything before he began heading home once again. As he walked the teenager thought about what had just happened trying to figure it out. It felt a bit strange to him to just suddenly have a strong evil Digimon pop up like this without any prior warning. At least he couldn’t think of anything that would have warned him or the others about this Digimon before he appeared. There was a chance that there had been some type of warning that they just didn’t pick up on, but he doubted it. It would have been hard to miss something involving a Digimon like that one.

On the way home he stopped by a grocery store nearby to pick up some things his mother had asked him to get before he had left for school. While he was shopping Patamon used the time to speak with Digimon who were also there with their partners. What the small Digimon envied was there were some who weren’t with their human partners because they could carry the groceries back on their own. He wished he could do things like that to help Takeru and Natsuko, but the only way he might have stood a chance in doing so was to evolve into Angemon and the angelic Digimon’s wings where too big to fit in the shopping isles. Once Takeru was sure he had gotten everything his mother had told him to get the two of them continued on their way home.

When they reached the apartment complex that they lived in Takeru began to climb the stairs while Patamon flew ahead of him. When Takeru finally reached his floor Patamon was sitting in front of the door waiting for him. “If you’re just going to fly up here like that you could have taken the groceries up with you,” Takeru joked as he unlocked the door to the apartment he shared with his mother. There was no way Patamon could fly up here with the weight of the groceries. When the door was unlocked he walked inside turning the lights on and sat the groceries down near the door so he could slip his boots off.

As Patamon flew passed Takeru he picked up one of the lighter bags and stuck his tongue out at Takeru as he flew into the kitchen. “There, happy?” Patamon shouted from the kitchen as Takeru put his slippers on then picked up the rest of the bags.

“Yes!” Takeru laughed as he walked into the kitchen himself putting the bags down on the counter next to the one Patamon had brought in. Both he and Patamon then proceeded to put the groceries up.

When they were done Patamon sat on the counter and asked, “Takeru can I have some cookies?”

Takeru smiled laughing slightly at how childish Patamon could be at times which always clashed with his adult personality when he was in his adult form or higher. “Yes, Patamon, but just a few Mom is cooking dinner tonight after she gets home from work and she isn’t going to be very happy if you don’t eat any of it,” Takeru answered grabbing a napkin from one of the drawers and set it down on the counter near Patamon. He then fetched a bag of cookies from one of the cabinets and opened it up grabbing a few setting them on the napkin before he put the bag back up.

“Thank you, Takeru,” Patamon said happily as he picked one of the cookies up and began to munch on it. Takeru smiled as he grabbed a small bag of chips for himself out of the cupboard before heading for his room. Takeru sat his bag down near his desk while also setting the bag of chips on top of it. After words, he went to grab some regular cloths so he could change out of his uniform.

When Patamon had finished with his cookies he threw the napkin away into the burnable trash bin then checked to make sure the counter was clean. When it was clear to him that it was Patamon flew into the living room to sit on the couch. He shifted his weight to where he was on his hind legs and his back was resting up against the back of the couch.

The small Digimon couldn’t really understand what had happened to them today. He could have sworn that the Digimon had attacked them resulting in the sidewalk getting the crater in it that was no longer there. Not to mention Patamon felt as Angemon as the pieces of cement cut his back, but whether they had disappeared because they didn’t really happen or because he had de-evolved Patamon wasn’t sure. Some injuries did go away when you de-evolved but most of the time they were minor bruises he had never had a bleeding wound disappear when he de-evolved before.  For now, Patamon was going to blame the vanishing injuries on what happened not him de-evolving, Takeru hadn’t been able to notice it, but as Angemon he had also sustained some electrical burns from trying to break the barrier mainly when he had tried with his staff. Patamon highly doubted those would have vanished due to him de-evolving.

The D-terminal melting was obviously half real, half faked. Yes everything inside the D-terminal had either been fried or melted, but the case hadn’t. “Ack!” Patamon shouted because trying to figure this out was making his head spin. The small Digimon believed it would be best to let someone else figure it out. He sighed as he dug around the cushions of the couch until he found the remote and turned the television on to watch some cartoons.

Meanwhile, Takeru had changed into an old loose green t-shirt and jean pants and was standing in front of the mirror in the washroom. There was fresh blood still running down his cheeks in a small trickle from the four wounds on his left cheek and the one on his right. It had been at least half an hour since the wounds had been inflected which was more than enough time for wounds that small to have stopped bleeding on their own. Now that he was in front of the mirror he could also see that the skin around the tiny wounds were red and irritated usually meaning the wound was infected somehow. “Great just what I needed,” he mumbled. Most likely there had been something on the Digimon’s claws that his body was reacting to. With an arm that looked just like Devimon’s he shouldn’t be surprised. Takeru shivered slightly at the thought of the arm touching him. Devimon was still his least favorite Digimon and would most likely always be it. He still had nightmares about what had happened to Patamon.

Patamon wouldn’t be able to evolve into Holy Angemon until tomorrow afternoon so he couldn’t have him use his healing ability until then. For now he grabbed some antibiotic cream and small bandages treating the small wounds the best he could for the moment. Whether or not human antibiotic’s would work on something from the Digital World he had no clue, but it would have to do for now. _There’s something to challenge Jou with when he’s done in medical school…_ Takeru thought as he left the washroom and walked down the small hallway to his room.

Like any typical Japanese junior high student in his last year before graduating he had tons of homework to do. They weren’t practicing for the high school entrances exams just yet which he was happy because he had seen just how much stress his brother had been under because of it. He still had half a month left before he had to start worrying about that. Takeru glanced at his desk knowing he was going to have to clean it up before he started on his homework. Papers were scattered all over it some accompanied by photo’s that had been provided by Hikari of different Digimon and places in the Digital World. This was because the different papers were all notes he and the other Chosen Children had written about their adventures in the Digital World. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be getting even more as his friends remembered more things that had happened to them and Takeru would be happy to get them. He was planning on writing a book about their adventures into the Digital World starting with his own personal account and going from there, but with pressure from his mother and father both to get good grades he really didn’t have the time to write at the moment.

He walked over to the desk and began to collect the papers while he stacked them into a neat pile. Then he checked under his desk to make sure none had slipped between the wall and the desk. Not all the papers where the size of notebook paper. Some of them had been written on small note pad paper which made them very easy to lose. When he was sure he had them all Takeru opened up a drawer in the desk which was currently empty and placed the papers inside of it. The teen then moved his rediscovered dark green lap top over to the middle of his bed to keep from knocking it off while he worked on his homework. With the desk cleaned off he grabbed his school bag and moved it by the chair. Then he sat down as he began pulling his school and notebooks out.

He had some tests to study for that was going to happen later on in the week, but for now he was going to concentrate on his homework since most of it was due tomorrow. Takeru really didn’t need his grades dropping any further. He’d rather avoid getting in trouble by his mother, then later on his father when he found out that they had. They were already being affected by some of the emergency trips he had to taken to deal with things as a Chosen Child throughout the year. Not to mention he had been putting more effort into writing the books then he had in his homework. Both had caused his grades to slip which led him to being taken off the basketball team so as his homeroom teacher put it he’d have more time for his school work. Not that he had really minded he had only been playing basketball for fun, but having to deal with his parents after they found out had made him decide to put the writing on hold. He still hadn’t even decided which high schools entrance exams he was going to take when March came around which was a cause for frequent discussions with his parents who were trying to help him decide. _Maybe I’ll just take the same test as everyone else…_ he thought to himself as he began his homework.

At the times he had gotten in trouble with his parents he had to admit he had been a bit envious of Daisuke. Daisuke’s chosen carrier didn’t have to have a high school diploma to be able to do which meant his grades could fall and he wouldn’t suffer from it. Takeru knew Daisuke did plan to go to high school and graduate, but he had never heard him complain about his parents yelling at him about his grades and Daisuke wasn’t the type to keep quite if something was bugging him. Takeru on the other hand wouldn’t complain about it to the others because he didn’t want to worry them. The only ones he really did talk about it too were his brother and Patamon. It was really hard to hide things from the two of them.

When he had been dropped from the team they had of course asked what had happened. Takeru had told them he hadn’t been dropped, but had decided to quite so he would have more time for his homework. He didn’t like lying to them like that, but he knew his friends good enough to know that they would have been upset that it had happened. It would have most likely led them to try and take his share of the work as a Chosen Child to where he could concentrate more on school. He knew none of them had the time to spare to take on his share of the work as well as theirs. Takeru sighed as he decided to think about this later since he really needed to concentrate on his homework otherwise they really would take his share of the work.

-X-

Patamon’s ears twitched slightly when he heard the front door open. The small Digimon hopped off the couch and walked out of the living room into the main hallway so he could see the door. When he saw Takeru’s mother was walking through the door he flew to her. “Welcome back,” Patamon greeted as he landed in her arms getting hugged gently.

Takeru’s mother smiled at the small Digimon. “I’m back,” she responded as she let the small Digimon go so she could change her shoes while the small Digimon hopped up onto her shoulder

Takeru heard Patamon and his mother talking so the teen set his mechanical pencil down and walked into the hallway. “Welcome back, Mom,” Takeru said smiling happily. Natsuko looked up and was about to respond when she saw Takeru’s cheeks. She exchanged her shoes for the slippers then she walked over to Takeru.

“Takeru what happened to your cheeks?” she asked cupping his chin with her hand lifting his chin slightly so she could get a better look.

Takeru rubbed the back of his head as he answered, “A cat on the way home from school got mad at me…” Takeru hated lying to his mother and if he hadn’t bandaged it the way he had he knew it wouldn’t have worked, but telling her the truth would cause her to worry more than the lie would he believed. He wasn’t even certain he knew what had happened and so had no idea how to even explain it to her if he had chosen to tell her the truth in the first place.

Natsuko slowly nodded not really believing her son, but she knew he always had some type of good intention when he lied to her. She’d let it go for the moment. Smiling she hugged her son and returned his greeting. “I’m back,” she said letting him go as she walked into the living room. “Are there any messages on the answering machine?” She asked Takeru as she patted Patamon on the head.

“To tell you the truth I forgot to check if there were any when I got home,” he stated and Natsuko nodded as she picked Patamon off her shoulder setting him down on the couch.

“I’ll check after I change out of my work cloths. Did you get the groceries I asked you to pick up?” she questioned as she paused outside her bedroom door.

“Yes, I remembered them,” he answered and she nodded again as she walked into her room closing the door behind her. She leaned back against the door and sighed. Natsuko had thought that Takeru had gotten past lying to her since she knew everything there was to know about Digimon and the things they did as Chosen Children. Why he had started lying to her now she couldn’t guess, but she would wait for him to tell her the truth since he always did in the end. If she pushed him for the truth now she was afraid she might end up pushing him away from her.

Natsuko and his father had tried dating for awhile during the four years that had passed and even though she had warned him Takeru had believed that they might get remarried. However, the dating had proven once and for all that they couldn’t get back together no matter how hard they tried to make it work. When they had told Takeru and Yamato this Takeru had gotten very upset and hadn’t talked to her or his father for almost a week. Just recently he had quit looking at them with a hurt expression that always stabbed at her heart. She didn’t want to cause him to withdraw again if she could help it.

The one thing she would always be happy about with Takeru finding Patamon was no matter how upset or angry he got he would always be able to talk to the small Digimon. She couldn’t even remember if the two of them ever had a fight that lasted for more than a couple of hours. If they had the two of them were very good at hiding it. Shaking her head slightly she went to change out of her work cloths.

Patamon looked at Takeru from his spot on the arm of the couch his ears dropping a bit. “I really don’t like lying to her, she’s so nice…” Patamon said a bit of a pout in his voice. Once again though he would let the decision fall to Takeru because he knew he had his reason and would tell Patamon at some point.

Takeru looked at his little friend. “I know Patamon, but it was hard enough to convince her that Digimon weren’t dangerous anymore after everything that had happened. If I told her the truth of what happened there is no telling what she would do,” Takeru told Patamon sitting down beside him.

Patamon slowly nodded. “I know but I still don’t like it,” he said as he leaned up against Takeru.

Takeru patted Patamon on the head. “Don’t worry one day we’ll be able to tell her the truth for now this is just better,” he said smiling slightly even though he didn’t feel like smiling. He really hated lying and he hated seeing his friend upset. Sighing he looked over at his bed room door. “I need to get back to my homework. Do you want to talk to V-mon and the others on my laptop?” he asked looking at the small Digimon

Patamon’s ears perked up and he grinned. “Yes!” he yelled happily as he flew for Takeru’s room. Takeru smiled a real smile as he followed Patamon into the room to find Patamon plugging the laptop in. Then Takeru walked over to the desk grabbing two unsharpened pencils and headed over to the bed as Patamon turned the laptop on. Patamon’s chubby little fingers made it impossible for the Digimon to type correctly without hitting multiple buttons at once so Takeru had thought up the idea to use the pencils to help him type. It meant he was slower than some of his friends who had fingers that didn’t get in the way, but it didn’t really matter. When Takeru was sure the small Digimon was distracted by his friends he went back to doing his homework.


	3. Life of a Chosen Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there really any point to the chapter summary o.O ?

Chapter Three Life of a Chosen Child

_Patamon’s ears perked up and he grinned. “Yes!” he yelled happily as he flew for Takeru’s room. Takeru smiled a real smile as he followed Patamon into the room to find Patamon plugging the laptop in. Then Takeru walked over to the desk grabbing two unsharpened pencils and headed over to the bed as Patamon turned the laptop on. Patamon’s chubby little fingers made it impossible for the Digimon to type correctly without hitting multiple buttons at once so Takeru had thought up the idea to use the pencils to help him type. It meant he was slower than some of his friends who had fingers that didn’t get in the way, but it didn’t really matter. When Takeru was sure the small Digimon was distracted by his friends he went back to doing his homework._

Takeru slowly opened his eyes surprised to find his body was aching all over. His head was also pounding making it hard to recall just how exactly he had ended up lying on the ground in the first place. The teen closed his eyes trying to relieve some of the pounding and swallowed in hopes of fixing his dry throat only to recognize the taste of blood. Takeru’s eyes shot open as the taste of blood made him remember exactly what had happened and the teenager attempted to push himself up into a sitting position only to have his arms give out on him.

They had been attacked. Both him and Patamon by the Devimon impersonating Digimon and while Patamon had evolved to Seraphimon with the aid of Takeru’s D-3 he had lost. With Seraphimon out of the battle and the two of them on their own it had left Takeru open for attacks. The Digimon had not held back, but what had happened to Patamon after Takeru had passed out? Clenching his teeth tightly Takeru rolled onto his back then pushed himself into a sitting position refusing to let his arms give out on him this time.

 By the time he had managed to sit up he was breathing heavily and his head was hurting even more. Takeru placed his right hand on his forehead wincing slightly when his hand touched a cut on his forehead. He pulled his hand back and was not surprised to see blood on it. Remembering why exactly he had sat up Takeru began looking around for the small Digimon. Takeru spotted him about ten feet away from where he sat and even from here he could see Patamon’s Data was beginning to show instead of the tan and white of his skin. Patamon was very close to being erased... “ _Patamon!_ ”Takeru shouted as loud as he could as he quickly pushed himself into a standing position. He almost cried out in pain as he stood but he bit his lip and stumbled towards his small friend his vision going blurry more than once.

It was when he was only five feet away that he noticed the evil Digimon was still there standing over Patamon his cheshire cat grin covering his face as he stared down at the small Digimon. He then turned his attention to Takeru who was now forcing his body into a run ignoring the pain signals that where coming from his legs. “So much for angel boy!” The Digimon jeered as his grinned manically. Takeru ignored him if he could just somehow get Patamon away from him there was still a chance he could save him then call for help from his friends. When he was just a foot away from the two of them he ran into a barrier that shocked him with black electricity like it had done to Angemon earlier that day.

“Gah!” Takeru shouted the electricity causing his body to hurt even more and Takeru fought to keep his legs from giving out on him as he began to punch at the invisible barrier in hopes of breaking it. “This can’t… be happening…” he gasped as he continued to beat against the barrier. If he could just get through this barrier then he would be able to save Patamon, but what hope did he have in breaking it when Angemon couldn’t? No, he wouldn’t give up for it was Patamon who had taught him no matter how bleak the circumstances seemed there was always something that could be done to turn it around. “Patamon! Patamon please wake up!” he begged his small friend as he continued to pound on the barrier. Burns from the electricity began to appear on his hands but he ignored them. Compared to what Patamon had gone through to keep him safe in the past what where a few burns?

The Digimon just laughed hysterically as he looked down at Patamon. “Didn’t he say something about not letting me kill you? He couldn’t even protect himself!” he shouted as he pulled back his non-human arm intending to impale Patamon with his claws.

“ _No_!” Takeru shouted as he began pounding on the barrier harder than before tears streaming down his cheeks. “I _won’t_ let this happen again!”

The Digimon glanced over at Takeru. “What can you, a mere human, do to help him?” The Digimon asked and Takeru didn’t have an answer for him but he knew he had to be able to do something! What was the point of being Patamon’s chosen partner if all he could do was watch from the side as he got erased again! “How does it feel not being able to do anything to save someone who means so much to you?” he hissed and he moved his arm to impale Patamon.

“ _Patamon!_ ” Takeru shouted at the top of his lungs as he began beating frantically against the barrier as he watched the hand get closer to his best friend until it was about ready to impale Patamon…

… Takeru sat up in bed breathing heavily, his eyes wide and tears streaming down his cheeks. He turned to look to the side of the bed Patamon usually slept on pulling the covers back. When he saw Patamon was sound asleep he sighed with relief as he slumped back against the wall glad to see his friend was alright. He hadn’t had a nightmare like that one for quite some time now and he had been very happy when they had stopped happening.

Slowly, as not to wake Patamon up, he began to push himself off the bed when he suddenly felt pain from his hands causing him to clench his teeth to keep from yelling out. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was wake everyone from him screaming in pain. Carefully he stood up to walk over to his window were moonlight and lights from the city drifted in. He held his hands out in the light and examined them. When he saw why his hands were hurting he gasped in shock because his hands were covered in burns and in some places, like his knuckles and the side of his hands, were bad enough to cause his hands to bleed. He walked over to Patamon’s side of the bed knowing he was going to have to wake him up now. “Patamon I need you to wake up something’s wrong,” he said as he carefully nudged the small Digimon with an elbow to keep from hurting his hands even more. Patamon slowly opened his eyes and would have rolled over to go back to sleep if he hadn’t seen that Takeru was covered in sweat and looked very frightened.

Patamon stood on his hind legs to get a better look at Takeru wishing he had eyes like Tailmon so he could see in the dark better. “Takeru what’s the matter?” Patamon asked concern in his voice thinking he had another nightmare. Takeru sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I first need you to turn the lights on for me Patamon,” Takeru told him. Patamon tilted his head to the side thinking this was a weird request but he flew over to the light switch turning the lights on anyway.

“Now will you tel—“ Patamon stopped in mid sentence when he turned to look at Takeru. His eyes went wide when he saw Takeru’s hands and he flew over to the bed landing next to him. “Takeru what happened?” Patamon shouted then quickly covered his mouth hoping he hadn’t woken up Natsuko. The last thing they needed right now was for her to see this especially since he had a feeling the explanation was going to be a strange one.

Takeru told Patamon about the dream that he had and while he did so Patamon just stared at Takeru’s hands. “… I don’t understand it Patamon, but for right now I need you to get the first aid kit for me so you can treat my hands,” Takeru told him. Patamon looked up at him and nodded as he flew to the bedroom door. He hung onto the knob as he turned it to open the door then went out to get the first aid kit.

When Patamon returned he wasn’t flying, but was walking as he pushed the first aid kit in front of him. Since Patamon had been able to stay without leaving to head back to the Digital World and Natsuko had found out about it she had gotten a bigger first aid kit mainly to treat the wounds Patamon got from fighting various Digimon. There had been a few times where it was also Takeru being treated, but Patamon made sure it didn’t happen very often. Once Patamon was it in front of Takeru he opened it up and began looking for something to treat the burns with.

“How are you going to hide this from the others let alone your mom?” Patamon asked as he found what he was looking for and jumped onto the bed. Hiding something like this wouldn’t be easy.

“Its winter I could always wear gloves,” Takeru suggested wincing every once in awhile as Patamon treated his hands.

“It’ll be hard to cover up the pain though and it’ll seem strange wearing gloves inside,” Patamon told him noting how much Takeru was trying not to pull his hands away from Patamon. He couldn’t even imagine how Takeru was going to be able to take notes for his classes tomorrow, or was it today?

“I’ll do it somehow the last thing I need is to try and explain this to mom... She’ll have me talking to a psychiatrist in no time with you right beside me no doubt,” He told Patamon. Patamon nodded as he hopped back off the bed grabbing some antibiotic cream as well as sterile bandages. Then he hopped back up as he began to apply the antibiotic to the bleeding wounds. “I’m also going to have to buy replacements for what we have to use out of the first aid kit, plus more so we can keep treating my hands… I just hope I have enough money,” he said glancing over in the direction he had set his wallet as Patamon began to bandage his hands.

He still had some money left over from the summer job he had gotten and he got an allowance every week from his mother, but most medical things were expensive. He was also trying to save money to buy presents for everyone even if it was just something small. Takeru was beginning to see where his home economics’ classes were going to come in handy. There was also the fact the people at the counter took note when someone as young as him bought such things even more so when they had a Digimon in tow. Patamon finished treating Takeru’s hands and began pushing the first aid kit back where he had gotten it from.

After Patamon came back they both went to bed and tried to go back to sleep. While Patamon was successful in falling back to sleep Takeru couldn’t help being afraid of having another nightmare like the previous one. After awhile though, he did end up falling into a light sleep in which he didn’t have any more dreams, but wasn’t very restful. At least he didn’t have any more nightmares…

-X-

Takeru awoke the next morning to his alarm clock going off. He was about to turn it off when Patamon all of a sudden jumped on him then onto the night stand turning the alarm clock off. “Thanks Patamon,” Takeru yawned as he sat up making sure to be careful not to use his hands in the process. Patamon nodded hopping of the bed while Takeru stood up and began to get ready for school.

While Takeru was doing that Patamon left the room and looked around for Takeru’s mother. When he didn’t find her he wondered into the kitchen to find a note on the refrigerator stating she had to leave early because she had an interview that was a few hours away. In cases like this Takeru would always make them breakfast, but with Takeru’s hands burned Patamon wasn’t going to let him do it. Patamon could cook as long as he evolved into Angemon first.

He could evolve into Angemon whenever he wanted to. It was his higher forms that required him to wait for enough energy to build up after he had evolved. It took twenty-four hours to be able to evolve into Holy Angemon. If he happened to evolve into Seraphimon it would take at least forty-eight hours for him to evolve into anything higher than Angemon. It was annoying at times, but if there was an emergency the D-3 would give him a burst of energy to evolve though he would end up going to Tokamon or even Poyomon because of it. There were some circumstances that this didn’t apply to, but that had mainly happened to his friends never him.

Glancing around to make sure Takeru wasn’t around because he believed being seen cooking as Angemon would be embarrassing the small Digimon moved to the center of the kitchen before he evolved into Angemon. The only thing he could really make was omelets and rice, but it was better than letting Takeru cook. Making sure his wings weren’t going to get in the way he began to cook.

Takeru had managed to get his school uniform on after fighting with it for a bit. It hadn’t been easy and he had already managed to undo what little healing his hands had done just by doing this. He wasn’t looking forward to note taking later on and even less so P.E. He now stood in front of the mirror fixing his hair. The teen glanced at his reflection and noticed that the bandages on his face had blood on them and needed to be change. Sighing he pulled out new bandages and quickly removed the ones on his cheeks. Despite his treatments yesterday the wounds still looked infected and were still in fact bleeding. He was glad the wounds were so small or he’d also have to worry about blood loss on top of everything else. “I’ll be glad when the afternoon comes around,” Takeru said as he once again applied antibiotic cream applying the new bandages after he was done.

As for Angemon, who was once again Patamon, he had managed to cook breakfast without setting anything on fire. This made him quite happy because he had only cooked at the most three times since he had come to stay with Takeru and his Mother. Patamon wasn’t really supposed to cook without someone watching him having almost set the apartment on fire one of the times he had tried to cook. The only reason he had cooked this time without Takeru watching was because if he had waited for Takeru, Takeru would have insisted on doing the cooking himself even with his hands burnt and he really didn’t want Takeru to see Angemon cooking. Besides the time he had almost set the apartment on fire he was cooking as Patamon. Angemon was much better at things then he was so he had rightfully believed nothing would happen.

Patamon sat at the table looking at his accomplishments. The omelets weren’t exactly something nice to look at even if he did cook it as Angemon, but Patamon had taken a bite of his to make sure it didn’t taste how it looked. He had been quite happy to find out it had tasted pretty good. As for the rice, rice wasn’t hard to cook; he only had problems getting it into the bowel really to serve it.

Takeru walked over to the table and stopped once he saw why Patamon was sitting at it. The fact that he hadn’t heard his mother meant they were alone. “Patamon did you cook this?” Takeru asked leaning to look into the kitchen. It was a mess, but Takeru could see places where Patamon had attempted to clean it up. How such a small Digimon could make such a mess just making omelet and rice was beyond him. At least he hadn’t caught anything on fire this time.

He glanced back at Patamon in time to see him nod. “Yes! I promise it doesn’t taste funny!” Patamon added when he saw the way Takeru was looking at it almost as if he was afraid it would jump up and bite him.

“Uh-huh…” Takeru said smiling slightly as he sat down and picked his chop sticks putting both hands together. “Itadakimasu,” Takeru said and slowly he took a bite wincing from having to use the chopsticks to eat. He was quite shocked to find out that it didn’t taste bad after all. It wasn’t the best he ever had, but it wasn’t the worse either. Smiling he looked at Patamon who had given up trying to use chop sticks a while back and was using his hands to eat (Or would they be paws?). “You did a good job Patamon,” he said causing Patamon to smile and he continued to eat.

When both of them had finished Patamon collected up the dishes and put them in the sink. Takeru went to fetch some things like gloves to cover up his hand and when he had them on he looked into the kitchen sighing. “We’ll have to wash these up tonight. We’re going to have to leave early so we can get to the store before schools starts,” Takeru stated walking over to the refrigerator to pull out their lunches that his mom made for them the night before putting them into his bag. Patamon nodded and helped Takeru pull his bag over his shoulder before he settled onto Takeru’s head. Takeru then walked to the entrance putting his boots on and walked out of the apartment locking the door behind him. Adjusting his bag on his shoulder he headed off to the pharmacy to pick up what he needed to treat his hands.

The reason he had to leave so early was because there was no pharmacy on the way to the school so he had to take a slight detour to get to one. When they had reached the Pharmacy Patamon had decided to wait outside in hopes of avoiding as much trouble for Takeru as he could. Takeru quickly found the things he needed taking them up to the store counter. As the man working at the register rang up the medical items Takeru pulled his dark green wallet out of the back pocket of his pants trying to hide a wince as he pulled the wallet out. Takeru nearly groaned though when he saw the total amount he had to pay as he opened his wallet up getting the money out. By the time he had left the store Patamon joining him as he continued on to school Takeru’s wallet was almost completely empty… At least he hadn’t gotten any strange looks from the man working at the register…

-X-

Takeru pulled his school shoes out of his locker quickly stuffing the pharmacy bag inside of it before changing his shoes putting his outside ones into the locker. Takeru then pulled his sweater off folding it up and placing it ontop of his boots closing the locker door. He then removed his hat putting it in his bag for now. Patamon was not with him at the moment. The schools had decided a while back not to allow Digimon into the class rooms because they were too much of a distraction though they were allowed to join the students for lunch or even during P.E. class. They were even allowed to participate in some of the games they played which meant whenever they’re class played soccer he knew V-mon would show up. Most of the time though the Digimon stayed near the sports field were if any class was having P.E. they could join on the fun if they wanted to even if they’re partners weren’t in the class. Patamon on the other hand, who was too small to play in most sport games, stayed in a tree that had a view into Takeru’s class room where he was usually playing video games on his Nintendo DS Lite while waiting for Takeru’s lunch break. Sometimes Tailmon and Armadimon would join him there, but if Armadimon was there Patamon would switch to sitting on the ground because Armadimon could not get up into the tree.

Takeru had somehow been able to arrive early even after running his errand so most of his friends would still be at home or at early morning club activities. “Good morning, Takaishi-kun,” someone greeted him in a soft voice from behind and he turned to see who it was. It was a girl who was the same age as Takeru wearing the green sailor fuku version of the uniform with a black zipped up jacket over it and knee high white socks. Her hair was chocolate brown reaching the middle of her back when it wasn’t pulled into a pony tail like it was most of the time and her eyes were a darker blue then Takeru’s hinting at her American blood. She was a bit shorter than him, but then again Takeru was a bit tall for his age thanks to his French blood. She was of medium build being neither to skinny or over weight. She had a black messenger back slung over her shoulder and she was holding a square package wrapped in brown paper.

Her name was Kohana Haru and she had transferred to the school about a month before summer break. She had attend school for two weeks without talking to anyone making Hikari feel bad for her thus she had started talking to her. Takeru was about the only other person in school she would talk to without being talked to first which had only happened because she had seen him with Patamon at one point. She had thought Patamon was cute and had worked the courage up to ask Patamon if it was alright to draw a picture of him. This resulted in Takeru and her talking a bit and after awhile they had become friends though they were not as close as Hikari and her. She had talked to Daisuke and Iori, but that was only because the two of them had spoken to her first. She hadn’t managed to get a Digimon yet and it was one of things her and Takeru would talk about wondering what type of Digimon she would get. “Good morning, Haru-chan,” he greeted in return smiling slightly.

Kohana walked over to her locker pulling her indoor shoes out. She removed her jacket putting it inside the locker. “I’m kind of surprised you here so early since you don’t have any club activities,” She said as she sat down to change her shoes.

Takeru shrugged. “I had some things I needed to do before school,” he told her and she slowly nodded.

She looked at Takeru as she stood up and blinked. “Takaishi-kun what happened to your face?” she asked concern in her voice.

“Yesterday a cat got mad at me is all. They don’t seem to like me as much as they like Hikari,” he answered. He was lying way too much lately for his liking. Once again Kohana slowly nodded. Unlike his mother she believed him. Takeru hadn’t lied to her before so she had no reason to think he would now.

“Why are you here so early, Haru-chan?” he asked. He knew she was a member of the art club, but they always had their meetings after school unlike Daisuke’s soccer club and Iori’s Kendo club who meet before and after school.

“I have to turn my painting in today for the art show. The entire club is entering…” she explained hugging the package to herself. Takeru had a feeling if it hadn’t been for the entire club entering the show Kohana wouldn’t have entered it at all.

“What’s it a painting of?” He asked politely.

“It’s a redwood forest. My grandmother who lives in America sent me some pictures of the forests near the coast and I thought it would make a nice painting,” she answered and Takeru nodded. Kohana then looked up at the clock. “I have to go turn this in before I’m late. I’ll see you later Takaishi-kun,” she said smiling. Takeru nodded and waved as Kohana headed off for the art class.

Sighing Takeru glanced at the clock himself. If he knew he would have arrived this early he would have cleaned up the kitchen before he left. Shaking his head he walked down one of the halls of the school until he reached one of the stair cases at the school climbing up it until he reached the third floor. Unlike Patamon, Takeru didn’t bring his Nintendo DS Lite with him to the school after Daisuke nearly got his confiscated so the only thing he had to do while waiting for classes to start was to play the few games he had on his cell phone. Takeru slid the door open to his class room walking inside and over to his desk. He hung his bag on the side of his desk as he sat down. The teen then pulled his cell phone out opening it up and began glancing through the game options on it.


	4. Truth and Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

Chapter Four Truth and Meetings

_Sighing Takeru glanced at the clock himself. If he knew he would have arrived this early he would have cleaned up the kitchen before he left. Shaking his head he walked down one of the halls of the school until he reached one of the stair cases at the school climbing up it until he reached the third floor. Unlike Patamon, Takeru didn’t bring his Nintendo DS Lite with him to the school after Daisuke nearly got his confiscated so the only thing he had to do while waiting for classes to start was to play the few games he had on his cell phone. Takeru slid the door open to his class room walking inside and over to his desk. He hung his bag on the side of his desk as he sat down. The teen then  pulled his cell phone out opening it up and began glancing through the game options on it._

Takeru stood by his desk placing the school books into has bag that he would need for homework and studying tonight. Taking notes had proven quite a chore and he believed any healing that might have happened on his right hand had been completely undone by now between this and getting his uniform on this morning. _Maybe it would have been better just to see if I couldn’t have borrowed Daisuke or Hikari’s notes, but then they would have wanted an explanation as to why I needed to borrow them in the first place_ Takeru thought to himself as he sighed his shoulders slumping slightly at the thought of having to take more notes tomorrow. At the moment, Takeru was happy that most of his cloths were green because if his right hand had started bleeding again because of the note taking and had managed to bleed through to the gloves the dark green color of them wouldn’t allow the blood to show. It was a grim reason to like his choice in colors, but then again he’d take whatever luck he could get.

Daisuke, who still had the same class as Takeru even after they switches schools, wandered over. “Oi Takeru, don’t forget we’re heading over to the park today. Taichi wants to talk about what’s going on at the UN. Also, I ran into Iori after soccer practice and he asked us to wait for him because he has another Kendo meeting after school and wants to walk with us,” Daisuke told him.

Takeru looked at him and nodded before replying, “I haven’t forgotten.”

Daisuke nodded back. “Good. It’s weird I tried e-mailing you a reminder this morning to your D-terminal like Taichi asked me to, but the message came back saying user does not exist…” he said glancing out of the window not really thinking it mattered much. Stranger things had happen before.

Takeru looked down at his bag where he had left his D-terminal. He had honestly forgotten what had happened to it after having the nightmare. “It’s malfunctioned… I’ll have Koushirou or maybe Ken look at it after the meeting,” he said looking at Daisuke. Daisuke looked at him and nodded before turning his attention towards the class room door were Hikari was talking to Kohana.

“I don’t really understand why we still use them to message each other. I mean we have cell phones now which can contact your brother and the others unlike the D-terminals. Then again cell phones don’t work in the Digital World…” He said shrugging before heading off to talk to Hikari and Kohana if he could get her to talk that is. Daisuke seemed to see it as a sort of a challenge to try and get Kohana to talk mainly because out of all of them he was the one she spoke to the least.

When Takeru had gotten everything back into his bag that he would need he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked over joining them. He was in time to hear Daisuke say to Kohana, “You still haven’t gotten a Digimon? Man just about—“ He didn’t finish his sentence due to Takeru elbowing him in the gut only to be glared at by Daisuke until he fully realized what he was saying and quickly tried to amend it. “I mean your Digimon partner must be something special for you not to have gotten one yet!” He blurted out quickly waving his hands as if to wave away his previous sentence. He _really_ needed to think before he spoke.

 _And you wonder why Kohana doesn’t really speak to you,_ Takeru thought shaking his head. The two hadn’t really hit it off the few times they had spoken their personalities being the opposite of each other. While Daisuke was loud and told everyone what he thought not thinking of the consequences until later Kohana was quite and when she did speak it always took her awhile because she was thinking over what she wanted to say. Takeru had to admit it really wasn’t Daisuke’s fault he wasn’t trying to be mean to Kohana, but Takeru had a feeling she hadn’t really fit into the last school she had attended with the way she behaved. From what he had gotten from Hikari she had transferred over from a school in America, but that was about all he knew about her old school.

Kohana slowly nodded. “Maybe…” she said looking at the floor. Takeru also had to admit what Daisuke was saying was the truth. Almost everyone that was in their age range or younger now had a Digimon. There had been reports on the news that Digi-eggs and Digivices were appearing in hospitals next to a baby a few days after they had been born. It was rare for someone under eighteen not to have one and it was a sore spot for Kohana that she didn’t have one yet. She was willing to wait for her digital partner but every day when she saw others with their Digimon it was a painful reminder that she didn’t have one.

“Any way,” Hikari started trying to change the subject before Daisuke accidently said anything else wrong. “Kohana-chan is going to come to the park with us today.” Hikari finished and by the look Kohana gave Hikari before she began dragging her off towards the school dojo Takeru had a feeling Kohana had just learned of this as well as not giving a chance for Takeru and Daisuke to ask why she was coming along. Daisuke looked at Takeru and shrugged quickly following after them. Takeru watched them for a bit before heading for the entrance of the school.

When he reached the school entrance Takeru quickly changed into his regular shoes pulling his sweater on over his uniform as well as putting his hat back on then grabbed the pharmacy bag heading for the tree that Patamon was sitting in. “Patamon I need you to come down and change the bandages for me please,” Takeru said as he sat down underneath the tree.

“Sure,” Patamon said flying down to Takeru DS in hand then he put the DS into Takeru’s bag. While Patamon did that Takeru, wincing the entire time, carefully pulled the gloves off his hands. The right hand like he had feared had begun bleeding again because of the note taking. “It’s not going to heal at this rate,” Patamon said as he began to remove the old bandages. He put more antibiotic ointment on his hands then re-wrapped them with clean bandages. Takeru knew Patamon was right and he was beginning to regret his decision of not telling the others.

“I need you to do me one more favor. Can you evolve into Holy Angemon for me?” Takeru asked and upon seeing Patamon’s confused look he pulled the bandages off his cheeks the wounds on them still bleeding. “I think there was something on those Digimons claws that make it to where wounds inflected by them won’t heal,” Takeru explained.

Patamon looked at Takeru. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” He asked tilting his head to the side.

“Even if I had told you, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything about them until today… I didn’t want you to worry when it wasn’t necessary,” he told is friend.

Patamon nodded. “True,” he said before evolving into Holy Angemon. He didn’t like the fact Takeru had avoided telling him about the non-healing injuries until now, but there was no use starting a fight over it. Right now he was the only one Takeru could completely confide in and he didn’t want a stupid fight to change that. Using his Holy Disinfection, Holy Angemon was able to get the wounds to heal to the point they should have been to where they no longer bled, but they didn’t disappear completely. His technique was also able to relive some of the pain from the burns in Takeru’s hands, but that was about it.

The technique wasn’t really meant for healing wounds so much as breaking curses and in this case getting rid of lingering Digimon Data that was messing with Takeru’s body. As for when he used it on Digimon the technique could heal their wounds and anything else that might have been wrong with them, but the drawback was that the Angel Digimon couldn’t heal himself. There were times such as this one that he wished the technique would work as well on humans as it would Digimon because he really didn’t like seeing his human friends hurt. Once he was finished Holy Angemon de-evolved back into Patamon.

Smiling Takeru gently patted Patamon on the head. “Thank you, Patamon,” he said as he stood up. Patamon nodded quite happy that he was able to help. Takeru put the pharmacy bag into his messenger bag and Patamon pulled the DS Lite back out of it flying up to land on Takeru’s head were he started playing his game. They then headed for the dojo to meet up with the others so they could head to the park once Iori was done.

The group had to wait awhile for Iori to finish up with his practice matches before they left for the park. The Chosen Children had long ago decided that because the park was almost completely deserted by the time all of them could arrive it was the best place to meet up. The decision had also been made because no one really had enough room at their home for all of them and their Digimon. Patamon like always was riding on top of Takeru’s head, though he had put the DS up, while Hikari carried Tailmon and the other Digimon walked beside their partners.

Within the real world Daisuke’s Digimon and the other Digimon no longer stayed in their Baby 2 stages, but stayed in their Child stages which made it a lot easier for the Digimon to get around. All of the Chosen Children would be going to the park except Mimi, due to time differences, which would be having a similar meeting in America after being informed by Taichi what was going on in the UN.

Daisuke’s curiosity had gotten the better of him and while Iori was changing out of his Kendo uniform back into his school uniform he had asked Hikari and Kohana why Kohana was going along with them seems how she didn’t have a Digimon of her own and really wasn’t involved in what was going. Hikari had told him it was because Kohana was curious about what was going on and had asked Hikari if she could tag along. When Daisuke had pointed out that it had seemed Kohana didn’t really want to go, but that Hikari had forced her along he had been told by Hikari that Kohana was just too shy and had been afraid the others would get mad at her if she tagged along thus Hikari who knew the others wouldn’t dragged her along.

It was night time by the time they had arrived at the park and were heading towards the meeting place. In winter the sun would always set earlier and had actually set while they were still waiting for Iori. With the temperature dropping Takeru was glad for having worn the gloves to hide the bandages for the warmth that they gave. As they neared the play ground area that Taichi had chosen for the meeting, mainly to give the more hyper Digimon something to do as they talked, the younger group was quite surprised to hear Taichi shouting, but they couldn’t quite understand what he was saying. Looking at each other than in the direction that the shouting had come from they all took off running afraid something was wrong and as they ran Hikari made sure Kohana stayed behind them in case it was a Digimon attacking.

“I can’t believe them!” Taichi shouted and Takeru stopped glancing over at his brother who just shrugged having arrived there himself not all that long ago and had no clue what was going on. The person he had been talking to was Koushirou who removed his hands from his ears believing Taichi’s shouting was done.

“Onii-chan what’s wrong?” Hikari asked walking over to her brother.

Taichi quickly turned to look at his little sister just now noticing that him and Koushirou weren’t alone anymore he was about ready to start shouting again when Koushirou quickly stood up and spoke. “Nothing to worry about right this minute Taichi is just over reacting to something that happened in the UN. We’ll talk about it after he’s calmed down,” he quickly stated glancing at Taichi. Taichi grunted and sat down knowing full well that he was over reacting, but he had hoped to get someone to be angry with him. Now that they knew everything else was alright the others sat down as well. Koushirou shook his head then looked at everyone else. “Any way the other reason we’re here is because there have been reports of damage being done around Japan and elsewhere caused by a Digimon that the government has been covering up,” Koushirou started only to be interrupted by Ken.

“This means you’ve been hacking again… I thought Taichi had told the government that you weren’t going to do that anymore,” Ken stated looking at Koushirou

Koushirou slightly blushed from embarrassment as Taichi spoke up in his defense. “I did but the condition for that was the governments were to tell us when a Digimon was attacking or had attacked not to cover it up. They can’t really do anything about it without our help without causing more damage and even then the Digimon wouldn’t be taken care of. When I arrived at the UN meeting a few days ago the Japanese representatives had been talking, but stopped as soon as they had spotted me. Yamato and Takeru’s father happened to be there while they were talking and no one had really noticed that he was there which was lucky for us.” Ken and the others nodded then looked back at Koushirou.

“As I was saying the attacks only had one victim that was hurt, but thankfully not killed though from what the reports state the only reason they weren’t killed was the victim’s stated the Digimon realized that they weren’t the ones they were after. All the victims had several things in common the most obvious being they all had Digimon which were still in their Baby 1 stage though they evolved as the attack happened like all Digimon would do when their partners are in trouble. All of them were of the age of 15 with blondish colored hair and blue eyes which is rare in Japan while the other attacks had taken place in France,” Koushirou explained looking at Takeru and he wasn’t the only one who was looking at him by now all of other Chosen Children were looking at him as well. After the attacks that had happened around Christmas four years ago all the Chosen Children had found out one of Takeru’s and Yamato’s grandfathers was French. “As for their Digimon all of them were Poyomon’s, but they all evolved into different lines that wouldn’t lead up to Patamon. Most of the time the attacks stopped once the Digimon had evolved into the child stage,” Koushirou finished explaining.

“Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell us this Digimon is targeting Takeru?” Yamato asked as he looked over at Koushirou who nodded.

Takeru looked at the ground not wanting to tell the others what had happened. He still didn’t have any real proof that the Digimon had actually attacked him, but now that reports of the other attacks were surfacing maybe it really had happened. Yes, he and Patamon both had been wounded though Patamon’s injuries had disappeared, but everything else around them that had been damaged hadn’t really been. He was afraid to find out that maybe his injuries had been caused by something else entirely, but he didn’t want to lie to them either so he spoke up in a voice that everyone barely heard. “The Digimon… It has already attacked me…”

Before Yamato or anyone else could say something he began to tell them what had happened yesterday and about the dream he had removing the gloves and bandages in the process to show them. By the time he was done Yamato was standing beside him while Jou was looking at his hands to see if any other treatment needed to be done. Both Ken and Koushirou had walked over to take a look at Takeru’s D-terminal to see if either of them could repair it or not.

Takeru could tell his brother was mad, but he wasn’t sure if Yamato was mad at him or at the Digimon who had attacked him though he had a bad feeling it was him he was mad at. No one spoke for awhile as they digested what Takeru had told them but when someone did speak everyone was a bit shocked with who it was. “Why…” Kohana began and when everyone turned their attention towards her she stopped for a moment almost letting out an eep, but continued on shoving her feelings of shyness away for the moment. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?” she asked looking at Takeru. She could understand him not telling her since she wasn’t involved with the things that had to do with Digimon not at the moment anyways but she didn’t understand why he hadn’t told the others whom had Digimon that could have helped him.

Takeru looked up at Kohana then back down at the ground. “Because I’m not sure what really happened and what didn’t. Not to mention the fact that up until now I didn’t even know if the Digimon was real or not! I thought there might even be a chance Patamon and I had seen an illusion and our minds made it real or something…” Takeru said moving his knees up against his chest and laying his head in his arms not wanting to see the looks the others had and to help keep himself calm.

He never liked talking about things that involved Patamon getting hurt and having to tell them about the dream made him more than a little upset. Jou stood up and shook his head. “No those burns wouldn’t be something your mind could make real. If you studied some of the medical books that I have I could say it’s a possibility, but you’ve never seen what electrical burns looked like so your mind couldn’t have made it real,” Jou told him patting Takeru on the shoulder.

Yamato sat down next to Takeru looking at his little brother. Yamato was never one to really show his emotions in front of others and Takeru knew this was as close as Yamato would get to comforting him in front of everyone else. “Do you know why he’s attacking you?” Taichi asked looking at Takeru.

Takeru looked at Taichi resting his chin on his arms. “Something about wanting to see what would happen if hope ended and wondering if it would end the game,” Takeru said and shook his head. He hadn’t understood it then and he didn’t understand it now.

“Next time something happens call us so we can come help you!” Hikari told him and the others nodded agreeing with her.

“Next time I’m going to evolve into Seraphimon then I’ll get that Digimon back for hurting Takeru!” Patamon stated and Takeru smiled reaching up to pick the small Digimon up off his head.

“I doubt he’ll be able to beat you as Seraphimon,” Takeru told him smiling then proceeded to tickle Patamon’s belly causing him to laugh.

Armadimon spoke up then. “Hawkmon and I will help keep an eye out at the apartments just in case, right?” He asked turning to Hawkmon who nodded in agreement.

Takeru looked at them and smiled. “Thanks,” he said.

“No problem we’re neighbors after all,” Miyako told him smiling as well.

For awhile they talked about different ways to keep Takeru safe. It was decided it would be best for him to get up early to go to school with Iori while Miyako would walk with them until she had to go in a different direction to get to her high school. After school Takeru could wait or the others meaning Iori, Hikari and Daisuke and walk home with them even if it meant heading in a different direction then their own homes. Takeru didn’t like the fact that he was going to be constantly guarded even though he knew their intentions were good. He had told Yamato no when he offered to either stay at their mother’s apartment with Takeru so if he went anywhere Yamato could go with him or Takeru could stay at their father’s apartment so Yamato could still go with him.

He had said no to this because even though he was in high school Yamato was still with his band and Takeru knew though the others didn’t, except Sora now that Yamato was going out with her, that Yamato was already having a hard time balancing everything. Yamato had talked with Takeru on a few occasions when they were just hanging out on quitting the band all together, but he would say that only when things were a bit too stressful and had never really meant it. If he watched Takeru like he was suggesting Yamato wouldn’t have much time for anything else and he didn’t want to be the reason his brother quite something he liked.

He didn’t tell the others the reason he said no and when it looked like they would argue against his choice he was saved from an unlikely source. “Kamiya-kun why were you upset at the U.N. earlier?” Kohana asked having seen Takeru was getting a bit upset at what the conversation was leading to.

Taichi blinked and looked at Kohana a bit shocked that once again she had spoken causing Kohana to quickly look down as her shyness kicked back in. Hikari had brought Kohana over a few times to their apartment to hang out, but even at those times Taichi had rarely heard her talk. Takeru reminded himself to thank Kohana later for changing the subject of their conversation. Taichi sighed and looked around at the others. “The government at the U.N. has begun discussing gathering up all the Digimon in this world and sending them back to the Digital World,” Taichi began and when more than one person and Digimon began to protest he quickly waved his hands. “Let me finish!” He shouted and when he was sure everyone was going to be quiet he continued. “Once they had them back in the Digital World their going to find a way to seal it up for good. There are some who are disagreeing with this stating that doing that would just make us vulnerable believing that the Digital World gates couldn’t be completely sealed up like they say they can. The ones who are disagreeing are ones who have Digimon of their own so some of the others are saying they don’t have their priorities straight. The majorities though are the ones who want to seal the gates,” Taichi stated his anger clearly showing up on his face.

Tentomon shook his head. “I doubt they could seal the Digital World up completely. I mean yes they may be able to seal it up from this side, but they don’t know enough of how the Digital World works in order to seal the gates up on that side,” Tentomon told them.

Koushirou nodded in agreement. “I haven’t been to willing to share what we know on the Digital World due to things not being quite settled between them and the Digimon, but if they try to seal the gates all that will end up happening is that they’ll make it a one way gate. Digimon can come freely from the Digital World, but nothing would be able to go from the real world to the Digital World meaning any Digimon that comes through will be stuck there and have to be dealt with. The government wouldn’t be able to get rid of them though and unless our Digimon came through the gate we wouldn’t be able to do anything either which would leave Earth open for some evil Digimon to conquer it,” Koushirou explained.

“Can’t you just tell them that?” Sora asked looking at Piyomon. No one there liked the idea of what Koushirou had just described.

“I’ve already told Taichi that when the next meeting comes up I’ll be there to explain this to them, but I doubt all of them will be willing to listen to me. Although I should get enough to listen to me were nothing should happen,” he told everyone.

“Why all of a sudden do they want to seal the Digital world though? Last thing I heard everything was going smoothly,” Jou said as he sat back down where he had previously been having re-bandaged Takeru’s hands.

Taichi shook his head. “I have a feeling it’s partly due to what they’ve been hiding from us, but I mainly think it’s because their afraid that Digimon will tip the scales and favor some country somehow causing a war. I keep trying to tell them on several different occasions that if something like that were to happen we’d stop it, but they won’t listen,” Taichi told them then continued, “They still can’t forget what trouble all the evil Digimon have caused here, but it also proves the point that we can handle things when Digimon go out of control if they’ll just let us. The problem is they don’t like leaving this up to us. I have a feeling if we were all ten years older we wouldn’t be having so much trouble with the U.N..”

“Can we do anything to help?” Iori asked looking at Taichi who sighed.

“Just keep doing what we have been doing. Sooner or later they’ll figure out its okay to leave things to us and we’re always adding more people to help as we find them,” Taichi told them. With most of their family members getting Digimon they had gotten them to help out with things as well.

Taichi looked at his watch. “Any way we should end this here for now before it gets any later and some of us get in trouble for staying out so late,” he said standing up as the others did as well.

“Takeru I’m going to take your D-terminal with me I might be able to fix it at home,” Ken told him and Takeru nodded.

One after another they all began to go their separate ways after saying good bye to each other until the younger Chosen Children, Kohana, and Taichi, who was waiting for his sister so they could drive home, were left. Hikari was off to one side with Kohana standing near her as she talked on her cell phone. Once she had hung up she talked to Kohana for a moment before the two of them walked over to where Takeru, Miyako, Daisuke, and Iori were standing. “Can you guys walk Kohana home on your way back? I was going to have Onii-chan drop her off before we went home, but our parents just called me and we have to go meet them somewhere,” Hikari explained to Takeru, Miyako and Iori.

“Sure I don’t see why not her apartment complex is on our way home,” Miyako answered for all three of them as she smiled.

“Thank you,” Hikari said smiling as well before she ran to catch up with her brother who had begun to head for his car. As the two siblings walked she proceeded to tell him that their parents had called.

Daisuke said good bye to the others before heading off as well. As for Iori, Miyako, Takeru and Kohana, they began walking towards their apartments. Iori and Miyako walked a bit ahead of Takeru and Kohana with their Digimon. Patamon took the opportunity to fly over to Kohana and sit on her shoulder. “Kohana, Tailmon told me today that you were working on a drawing of Angemon can I see it?” He asked.

Kohana smiled. “Sure Patamon-chan,” Kohana said as she began to dig through her school bag for her sketch book.

Takeru blinked once he fully realized what Patamon had just asked. “How are you doing a drawing of Angemon? I didn’t think you’ve seen him yet,” Takeru said looking at her.

“Hikari-chan gave me a picture of Angemon that she took along with some of the other Digimon’s evolutions,” Kohana answered flipping through the sketch book until she found the drawing she was looking for then waited until they were under a street light before showing it to Patamon.

Patamon looked at the drawing and pointed to some of the lines that were on it. “How come those are there?” He asked looking at Kohana.

She glanced at the drawing before turning her attention back to where she was walking. “It’s to help make sure everything on the face is lined up correctly, even though Angemon wears a helmet it was still needed. I am going to scan it into my parent’s computer and work in it on there once I’m done with the sketch. The blue color the lines are drawn in are special and won’t show up on the scanned image,” she explained to Patamon who nodded.

Both Kohana’s parents helped design characters for various games and had lots of drawing programs on their computer as well as a very expensive drawing tablet. Patamon had seen it once when Hikari had brought Takeru and him along a few times she had visited. He also knew from what Tailmon had told him that unlike Kohana’s mother her father could actually code games as well. As they walked Patamon was about ready to get back onto Takeru’s head when both Kohana and Takeru stopped.

“Haru-chan, please tell me you can’t see them either...” Takeru asked as he looked at Kohana a slight look of worry on his face.

Kohana looked at Takeru her face showing her confusion. “I can’t see them either…” she responded. Patamon tilted his head to the side wondering what they were talking about and looked ahead his eyes widening. Iori, Miyako, Hawkmon and Armadimon were nowhere in sight ahead of them anymore and looking around showed they weren’t any place else either. They had completely vanish from sight.

Takeru had a bad feeling about this and was about to say something when he heard someone speak. “I had hoped to get angel boy and blonde by themselves, but I guess it doesn’t really matter since she doesn’t have a Digimon any way.” Takeru turned to where the voice had been coming from and was none too happy to find out it was the voice of the evil Digimon. Takeru had hoped it would be at least another twenty-four hours before they saw the Digimon again giving Patamon the ability to freely evolve into Seraphimon without the help of the D-3.

Kohana turned in the same direction Takeru was looking and when she saw the Digimon she gasped. Patamon quickly got in front of Takeru and Kohana evolving into Angemon. The evil Digimon smirked speaking again. “Seems like it’s time for some fun! I wonder who I will play with first…”


	5. Th End?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

Chapter Five The End?

_Takeru had a bad feeling about this and was about to say something when he heard someone speak. “I had hoped to get angel boy and blondie by themselves, but I guess it doesn’t really matter since she doesn’t have a Digimon any way.” Takeru turned to where the voice had been coming from and was none too happy to find out it was the voice of the evil Digimon. Takeru had hoped it would be at least another twenty-four hours before they saw the Digimon again giving Patamon the ability to freely evolve into Seraphimon without the help of the D3._

_Kohana turned in the same direction Takeru was looking and when she saw the Digimon she gasped. Patamon quickly got in front of Takeru and Kohana evolving into Angemon. The evil Digimon smirked speaking again. “Seems like it’s time for some fun! I wonder who I will play with first…”_

 “Hmm… So man playmates so little time…” The Digimon hummed then glanced at Kohana noting she had no Digimon with her. “Though I don’t think the human girl will be much fun to play with,” he stated then his eyes narrowed as he suddenly shouted, “Ah! I don’t think so!” The evil Digimon pointed one of his human fingers at Kohana. She yelped in both pain and shock, mainly shock, which caused Takeru to turn around and look at her.

Kohana had been trying to call Hikari on her cell phone and right when she was about to hit the send button the Digimon had fried her cell phone with his black electricity. She wasn’t fast enough to drop it before she was burned slightly. “I won’t let you ruin my fun by you calling for back up… Not that it really matters. They couldn’t help the three of you even if they did know what was going on,” He sneered, smirking as he turned his attention to Takeru and Angemon now ignoring Kohana completely.

With her not having any Digimon there was no reason for him to worry about her and even if she did have one there was still a chance he wouldn’t have paid any attention to her. He only saw her as part of the game to hurt Takeru, but he had to admit something about her nagged at his thoughts but he pushed them away for now. After all he had the main two he wanted right before him. First all he had to do was erase angel boy and then he could take his time in killing Takeru. He began singing as he thought;

_I’ve got a lock,_

_A little lock on my mind,_

_Rusted open the Key long gone,_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

As if sensing the Digimon’s intentions Takeru’s D-3 let out a blinding flash of light from his bag. When Takeru could see again he saw that Angemon had evolved into Seraphimon. Quickly Takeru grabbed Kohana by the arm and pulled her into an ally as Seraphimon got ready to attack. “I will not let you do as you please this time! Strike of the Seven Stars!” he shouted as seven orbs of light appeared around him. Seraphimon then fired them at the Digimon who quickly dodged the attack by flying up into the air.

The Digimon laughed then shouted, “Let the game begin! Decaying Claws!” His Devimon like hand began glowing dark red as he dove at Seraphimon. Seraphimon jumped back and flew up into the sky to dodge the attack. Takeru pushed Kohana against the building shielding her with his body as the attack struck the ground not sure what type of damage it would do. The evil Digimon chuckled as he flew up after Seraphimon ignoring the two teenagers and Takeru took a few steps away from Kohana trying to follow the battle. Takeru didn’t have a hard time following Seraphimon’s movements the heavy armor making him slower than most Digimon, but the other Digimon moved quite fast and his eyes were having trouble following him. He looked at Kohana when he suddenly felt her tug at one of his sleeves. Her face was pale and at first he thought it was because of the battle that was going on, but then she pointed to the area the attack had struck.

Unlike last time instead of the sidewalk exploding on contact the ground had simply melted causing a crater that was enlarging as it continued to melt. Takeru’s eyes widened as he looked back up at Seraphimon. “Seraphimon don’t let his claws touch you! They melt whatever they touch!” he shouted as Seraphimon dodged another attack. It was becoming clear quite fast to Seraphimon that the Digimon was playing with him. At the speed it was capable of moving he should have been able to hit Seraphimon before he had a chance to dodge like he was.

“Don’t worry Takeru he’ll have to get past my armor first! Strike of the Seven Stars!” Seraphimon shouted in response as the seven orbs appeared once more. This time Seraphimon didn’t fire them all off at once, but one at a time while the Digimon continued to dodge them. The Digimon may be faster than Seraphimon, but he had better control over his attacks. While the Digimon concentrated on the ones that were flying right at him Seraphimon had another one come up from behind hitting the Digimon in the back.

The Digimon cried as he fell somewhat before he caught himself with his wings. “Hmm a point for the angel boy and because I want to show you how nice I play with others I’ll give you a prize. No doubt you’re wondering about what type of Digimon I am. Well I’ll tell you my name and maybe if you live after our battle you can find out,” he grinned showing off his sharp teeth.

Seraphimon stopped attacking for a moment because there was a chance by himself he wouldn’t be able to beat the Digimon if he was correct about how he was just playing with him so any information he could get on this Digimon the more he’d be able to help the others defeat him in the end. “I see you’re curious,” the Digimon chuckled as he flexed his Devimon arm. “It’s Shaitanmon,” he stated plainly before jumping up into the sky and flying at Seraphimon to attack once again.

An orb of energy began to gather in front of Shaitanmon and Seraphimon flew up higher into the sky to put distance between where he was at and the two teenagers. “Devil’s Descent!” he shouted firing the orb of energy at Seraphimon.

“Judgment!” Seraphimon shouted and a large org of light appeared in front of him. He fired the attack at Shaitanmon’s attack to counter it. As both of the attacks headed for each other Seraphimon dove down to where Takeru and Kohana were at. The angelic Digimon reached them just as the two attacks began to collide with one another.

As the two energies met each other the two opposing energies caused a huge explosion. Seraphimon knowing what was happening without having to look picked up Takeru and Kohana in both his arms. The angelic Digimon then flew off as fast as he could before the explosion could completely finish. It wasn’t long though before he hit something in front of him causing him to bounce back a bit. “What the?” Takeru questioned looking at were Seraphimon had bounced off a look of pure confusion on his face.

Seraphimon instead turned his attention to what had happened after the explosion. When he turned around he saw that most of the area had been destroyed and Seraphimon could see Shaitanmon on the other side also looking at what had happened. It was thanks to the explosion that Takeru and the other two could see that the area they were in was fake. Buildings, sidewalk, streets and anything else that hadn’t been directly affected by the blast had begun to flicker in and out of existence. When it did flicker out the area’s that had been destroyed by the explosion would show the real building that where once there proving that the real ones where still standing but then it would be covered by darkness.

Shaitanmon began to laugh as he watched them glancing at some o the flickering buildings. He flew up to one out of curiosity. “Hmmm I didn’t expect this…” he stated truthfully as he poked one of the fake buildings causing it to disappear. “Who would figure that our attacks were strong enough to damage the illusion…? I was under the impression that only that person could damage it,” he said his voice giving away that he just didn’t really care anymore as it was no longer interesting. He turned to look at one of the edges of the illusion tilting his head to the side.

“Hmm I don’t have much time left it seems… Oh and angel boy…” he started turning his attention to the three of them smiling slightly. “I wouldn’t recommend setting them down I’m not quite sure what would happen to them if you did with the way things are at the moment,” he said grinning.

“Why would I listen to what you have to say when you want to kill us?” he asked and if he hadn’t had a helmet on concealing his face he would be glaring at him by now. Shaitanmon shrugged and proceeded to land. Once his feet touched the ground it disappeared from underneath him leaving only complete darkness and he was once again flying.

“You don’t have to but I have no clue what would happen if the ground disappeared out from underneath them. I don’t know if they’ll escape the illusion or if they will be trapped. It’s not my ability in the first place I just borrowed it to play in. Of course from what I had understood it was supposed to be stronger than this,” he grinned tilting his head to the side slightly and Seraphimon would have sworn he saw his eyes change color for a moment.

“Why warn us then?” Takeru asked.

Shaitanmon looked at him. “Because I want to be the one to kill you it wouldn’t be much fun if I didn’t. I don’t have any interest in what happens to the girl though you can set her down if you want…” he said in a matter of fact way. “Even if she does look familiar somehow…” Shaitanmon said quietly tapping his upper lip with one of his human fingers as he thought. Kohana who had heard him wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly. When she looked at Takeru his expression hadn’t change which let her know he hadn’t heard the last part of what the Digimon had said.

Takeru was beginning to wonder if this Digimon was even sane or not and Seraphimon had the same thoughts as him while Kohana at this point had no idea what to think about what was happening. “Seraphimon can you fight holding us like this?” Takeru asked looking up at Seraphimon’s face.

Seraphimon looked down at Kohana and Takeru. At the moment Takeru’s face was expressionless. Seraphimon had a feeling he was hiding his emotions while Kohana looked frightened and the Angelic Digimon couldn’t really blame her. She had never been involved in a Digimon battle before. “I do not know but I will try I would rather carry the two of you then chance setting you down and have something happen to you,” Seraphimon told him.

Shaitanmon flew at them getting bored of talking. “That’s enough chatting let’s play! Decaying Claw!” he shouted extending his Devimon like hand in front of him to attack Seraphimon. Seraphimon flew to the side, but he didn’t move fast enough for the claws managed to hit the middle wing on the left side causing the wing to start decaying. The angelic Digimon was use to only carrying one person around when he fought so when he had dodged he had misjudged just how fast he had to move to avoid the attack.

Takeru, who was the closest to the left side, glanced at the wing worried. Seraphimon of course had ten wings all together but Takeru wasn’t sure just how many he could safely loose before it started to affect the Digimon’s ability to fly. Another unknown was whether or not the decaying would spread to the rest of Seraphimon’s body.

Seraphimon flew getting some distance in between himself and Shaitanmon before attacking. “Judgment!” Seraphimon shouted sending the orb of light at Shaitanmon who quickly turned around and countered with Devil’s Descent. Once again when the two attacks collided with each other they created another explosion and Seraphimon tried to get away from it only to hit another wall in the illusion. Not having enough time to get away Seraphimon quickly turned his back to the explosion to keep the two teenagers from getting hurt. When the explosion hit his back Seraphimon placed his right foot on the barrier wall to keep from crushing Takeru and Kohana.

The two teenager’s eyes widened when they heard cracking and Takeru looked back as best he could spotting cracks within Seraphimon’s armor. “Takaishi-kun, how bad is it?” Kohana asked looking over at Takeru. Kohana was closest to the center of Seraphimon with the way he was holding them so she couldn’t really see.

Takeru looked at her smiling in an attempt to keep her calm. “It’s fine Seraphimon’s armor won’t fall apart just from that,” he told her even though he was not really sure just how many attacks the armor could take with it cracked like it was without it falling apart.

Shaitanmon on the other had who knew just where the walls of the illusion where had been able to escape the explosion without being harmed. “Not looking so good Angel Boy,” Shaitanmon commented and began to laugh.

Takeru glanced up at Seraphimon asking, “Seraphimon are you alright?”

Seraphimon took a moment before he spoke,” Yes I am fine I ‘m not going to use Judgment anymore though. It uses up a lot of energy and as long as he can counter it with his attack it’s too dangerous to use it…” Seraphimon then turned his attention to Shaitanmon thinking of how to attack this time.

“Takashi-kin, Seraphimon look!” Kohana shouted pointing towards an area lower than them in the illusions wall. Takeru and Seraphimon both looked to where she was pointing at and spotted a crack within the barrier.

“Seraphimon if you use Excalibur on the crack do you think you can break through it?” Takeru asked and Seraphimon was about to answer when Shaitanmon came flying at them using Decaying claw once again. This time, however, Seraphimon was able to dodge the attack successfully and kicked Shaitanmon away from them.

“Gah!” Shaitanmon shouted more out of surprised then out of pain.

Before Shaitanmon could correct himself and stop himself from falling Seraphimon turned his attention to the crack in the wall and shifted how he held the two teenagers to where his right arm was completely free. “Hold on tight you two!” Seraphimon shouted as he flew straight for the crack while the two teenagers did as they were told. “Excalibur!” Seraphimon shouted the energy sword appearing from his right arm as he charged into the crack in the barrier using the legendary sword more like a lance at the moment then a sword.

When the attack hit the crack grew bigger and the entire wall started to shatter like glass. From somewhere below them they could hear Shaitanmon cursing as the illusion was completely shattered. Seraphimon didn’t hesitate for a moment to fly through the opening that appeared in front of him…

…Which almost resulted him flying straight into Metal Garurumon. Before either of them could talk to the other a cry that sounded like something unearthly came from the opening and Shaitanmon came flying out of it. “I am not letting you get away,” he shouted at Seraphimon, “Game Over!” Several chains shot out from around Shaitanmon heading for Seraphimon.

Seraphimon quickly placed the two teenagers onto Metal Garurumon’s back and before the dog like Digimon could figure out what was going on Seraphimon gathered his strength up pushing Metal Garurumon away from the attack. Doing this caused himself to de-evolve to Holy Angemon but at the moment he really didn’t care as long as Takeru and Kohana where safe. The chains wrapped around Holy Angemon immobilizing him as they squeezed tightly causing him to cry out in pain. Takeru’s eyes widened as he looked at Metal Garurumon. “Metal Garurumon please help him!” Takeru begged.

“No, get them out of here now!” Holy Angemon shouted at his friend while he struggled against the chains trying to get free. Metal Garurumon looked at the angelic Digimon nodding his head.

“Don’t worry Takeru, I am not the only one who is here,” he stated before heading towards the ground where the other Chosen Children where at. Taichi and Yamato both quickly ran over to where Metal Garurumon was going to land Taichi keeping his eye on the battle above while Yamato kept an eye on his brother and Kohana.

“War Greymon you need to help Holy Angemon!” Taichi shouted and when the barrier that held the illusion completely disappeared it revealed War Greymon and the others in different positions having been attempting to break through the barrier in order to help their friends.

War Greymon didn’t need to be told twice on what needed to be done. “Dramon Killer!” he cried out flying towards Holy Angemon shattering the chains with his attack. He then stopped next to Holy Angemon and glanced at him. War Greymon noticed Holy Angemon was missing a wing and the shield on his left arm had several cracks in it making it completely useless to the angelic Digimon. “You don’t look that good Holy Angemon…” War Greymon said turning his attention to Shaitanmon

Holy Angemon smiled slightly at War Greymon’s comment. If it had been any other Digimon they wouldn’t have really said anything. “I have been better…” Holy Angemon stated truthfully now that Takeru was out of earshot.

“If you’ve had trouble with him as Seraphimon I wonder just how much of a chance the rest of us stand against him…” War Greymon said as he looked at Holy Angemon again.

“As War Greymon I don’t believe you have much of a chance against him…” Holy Angemon told him causing War Greymon to look at Shaitanmon again.

“That bad, huh? Maybe you should move out of here Metal Garurumon and I can Jogress Evolve into Omegamon once he’s done taking Haru-san and Takeru to safety,” he stated moving to where he was in front of his injured friend in case Shaitanmon decided to attack again.

Holy Angemon shook his head but realized War Greymon couldn’t see the movement from where he was floating. “I’m sorry War Greymon but I can’t. If I were to leave he would follow after me and then I’d only be putting the Chosen Children in danger. He isn’t interested in anyone else other then Takeru and I. He’ll ignore you completely if I’m not here with you,” he informed War Greymon who nodded his head.

“One of those types…” War Greymon whispered to himself then said aloud, “Well it looks like what Koushirou said this afternoon was true he really is only after you two.”

On the ground Metal Garurumon had landed and with Yamato’s help the two teenagers had gotten off his back. Jou had followed after Taichi and Yamato carrying a first aid kit with him just in case. “What happened?” Yamato asked looking at his brother.

Takeru shook his head saying, “I’m not sure we were heading home and the next thing I know we couldn’t see Miyako, Iori, or their Digimon. Then Shaitanmon started attacking us,” he then tapped Taichi on the arm to where both of the older Chosen Children where looking at him. “We need to be careful as we fight him he uses an illusion like attack which is what he had us trapped in. The only reason we were able to get out was because when an attack of Seraphimon and his collided it caused an explosion that weakened the barrier. When Seraphimon attacked a crack that had appeared we were able to get out,” Takeru explained to them.

Yamato nodded. “I was about to have Metal Garurumon attack the crack that had appeared when you guys broke through it,” he told Takeru as he looked up at War Greymon and Holy Angemon. Metal Garurumon took off to join the other two Digimon. “Is there a reason Holy Angemon isn’t getting away from him now?” Yamato asked looking at his brother once again.

Takeru looked up at Holy Angemon. “Holy Angemon knows that if he leaves Shaitanmon will follow after him ignoring War Greymon. He doesn’t care about anyone else like all the other Digimon we fought before did he just wants to erase Holy Angemon and kill me,” Takeru informed his brother. Yamato was about to say something about the Digimon wanting to kill his younger brother, but Takeru had ran over to where the others were at wanting to tell Koushirou what he knew about the Digimon. Yamato followed after his brother wanting to hear what he had to say about Shaitanmon while Jou stayed attending to the wounds on Kohana’s hands. Taichi after a bit followed after Yamato and Takeru.

As for Kohana her attention was on Shaitanmon. Something about the devil Digimon seemed familiar to her somehow but she couldn’t figure out what it was. When Jou had finished treating her hands she began digging through her bag trying to find her sketch book believing she would find the reason Shaitanmon looked so familiar to her in there. It didn’t take her long though to realize that sometime during the attack a hole had been ripped into the bottom of her bag. Most of her things had managed to fall out by now and what hadn’t she transferred to a zip pocket that was still alright. “Is something wrong?” Jou asked noticing how she was starring at her bag.

She looked up at Jou nodding her head. “I lost my sketch book sometime during the fight…” she told him looking over to the area Seraphimon and Shaitanmon had been fighting. She knew there was a chance that her sketch book was already lost for it most likely had fell out when they were still caught up in the illusion. There was still a chance however that she could find it all she had to do was go back to the area the two Digimon had been fighting which meant getting underneath the current battle. She began to turn around to head over to the area when Jou grabbed hold of her arm.

“Haru-san I know that sketch book is probably very important to you but trying to find it right now is just too dangerous!” Jou told her.

Kohana shook her head pulling free of Jou and took off running calling behind her, “There’s something in there that I have to check right now!” Jou’s eyes widened and he quickly followed after her in hopes of stopping her none of the others noticing what was going on.

Metal Garurumon flew up beside War Greymon and Holy Angemon ready to join them in fighting. War Greymon glanced over at Metal Garurumon slightly curious what his friend’s reaction would be to what Holy Angemon had told him. “Holy Angemon says that we don’t have a good chance fighting by ourselves. It seems we’ll have a better chance if we Jogress evolved into Omegamon,” he told Metal Garurumon who nodded looking at Shaitanmon who was glancing around at all the Digimon and Chosen Children that had gathered having never seen them all before it was holding his interest for the moment.

“Is he really that bad?” Metal Garurumon asked looking at Holy Angemon who nodded.

“Yes I’m afraid he is,” he answered.

Trusting in what Holy Angemon had to say both Metal Garurumon and War Greymon began to glow brightly. When the light had vanished it revealed the two Digimon had evolved into Omegamon. Shaitanmon hummed a bit looking at him. “Digimon just can’t stay out of my business can they…?” he asked no one in particular taking note on how the others had either Jogress evolved or had evolved into their higher stages. Chosen Children Digimon were really to nosy for their own good in his opinion, but then again it meant he had more Digimon to play with which made him somewhat happy.

When Iori had noticed Takeru had joined the others he had walked over to him tugging on his sleeve gently. “Takeru should we have our Digimon Jogress evolve?” he asked when Takeru had looked at him instead of Koushirou’s laptop. Koushirou had been trying to look the Digimon up on his laptop without much success so far.

Takeru thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t think they’d be able to do anything… Even if they could it would just be putting Ankylomon in more danger than he is now,” Takeru told him afraid that _if_ , and that was a big if on Takeru’s part, Shaitanmon somehow managed to erase Shakkoumon not only would he lose Patamon but Iori whose Digimon wasn’t really a target to Shaitanmon would also be deleted. He wouldn’t risk his friends Digimon like that if he didn’t have to so he would prevent them from Jogress evolving.

Iori who understood Takeru’s reasoning sighed turning his attention to the battle. The only way Ankylomon would be useful now was if the fight somehow ended up on the ground because none of his forms, save his Jogress one, could fly.

Taichi walked up beside Takeru. “Takeru how much trouble did Seraphimon have with this Digimon?” he asked looking up at Shaitanmon and Omegamon as well. The fact that the two Digimon had decided to Jogress evolve so quickly sent up a red flag in Taichi’s mind.

“Seraphimon was about equal to him as far as I could judge but I couldn’t be too sure if he wasn’t holding back. Shaitanmon has stated he sees this as nothing more than a game and for all I know he could have been holding back while he was fighting,” Takeru answered looking at Taichi.

Neither Takeru nor Taichi liked the idea that he may have been holding back even when he was on par with Seraphimon. Seraphimon could be as strong or even stronger then Omegamon at times and Takeru was hoping Seraphimon’s fighting capability had in fact been dropped slightly because he had been carrying Kohana and himself. If that wasn’t the case and Shaitanmon was indeed stronger then Seraphimon that would mean not even Omegamon would stand a chance… Not liking were the train of thought was going Takeru quickly pushed the thought into the tiniest box he could imaged and put the biggest lock he could image on it pushing it to the back of his mind to never see the light of day again.

Taichi thought a moment looking around at the other Digimon who could only evolve to Perfect. “Silphymon needs to pull back and de-evolve so Tailmon can evolve to her Ultimate form. As for the others I doubt they will do any good so it would be best if Sora, Koushirou, and Jou were to call back their Digimon,” Taichi said looking around and when he only spotted Sora, Hikari, Miyako, Iori, Ken, Daisuke and Koushirou he blinked. “Where is Jou? On that note where is Haru-san?” he asked turning as he surveyed the entire area as Sora and Koushirou called their Digimon back.

When Taichi finally spotted them below where the current battle was about to take place he wasn’t very happy. “Why are they over there?” Taichi shouted and blinked when his cell phone suddenly went off. Takeru looked over Taichi’s shoulder as Taichi pulled out his dark blue cell phone and looked at the text. It was from Jou stating that Kohana was looking for her sketch book and he had tried several times to get her to come back but she insisted on finding it because something about Shaitanmon was bugging her. Jou’s message stated that she believed there was some type of answer in her sketch book that may even end up being some information on Shaitanmon

Taichi re-read the message a few times before looking at Takeru as he put his cell phone up. “How could she have some information about Shaitanmon in her sketch book?” Taichi asked.

Takeru shrugged just as clueless about it as him. “I don’t know I never really looked through it before I’ve only seen the few drawings she has shown me…” he answered.

“Hikari, have you looked through it?” Taichi asked turning towards his little sister.

“I have once before, but I don’t know what she could be meaning either,” Hikari answered truthfully.

Taichi shook his head looking over at Jou and Kohana. Zudamon had already moved to help protect them from any stray attacks, but he still didn’t like them being over there. He wasn’t going to stop them if they could find something that would be able to help. While Taichi debated on whether or not to force Jou and Kohana to come back Miyako and Hikari called Silphymon having him pull back from the battle to do as Taichi had suggested.

When Silphymon landed the two teenagers ran over to him. “Silphymon we need you to de-evolve so Tailmon can evolve into her Ultimate form,” Hikari explained and Miyako nodded.

“Alright,” Silphymon said before de-evolving to Hawkmon and Tailmon. Tailmon then with the help of Hikari’s D-3 evolved into Ofanimon who flew off to rejoin the battle.

Imperialdramon Fighter Mode flew up beside Omegamon soon followed by Ofanimon. Shaitanmon sighed shaking his head. “Oh to hell with it I’ll still beat Holy Angemon even with all of you here! Decaying Claw!” he shouted as he charged at Holy Angemon.

Omegamon moved in order to block the incoming attack. “Omegamon don’t! The attack melts anything it touches!” Holy Angemon told him as he moved away from the attack as Omegamon dodged it.

“That’s inconvenient,” Omegamon stated as Imperialdramon Fighter Mode moved in to attack Shaitanmon from behind.

“Splendor Blade!” he shouted as he slashed at Shaitanmon’s back. Shaitanmon turned around catching the sword with his non-human hand digging his claws into it.

“This is annoying let’s get rid of it! Decaying Claw!” Shaitanmon shouted and the red glow started going through the sword as it began to decay.

Imperialdramon FM quickly let go of the sword getting out of the way of Omegamon’s attack. “Garuru Cannon!” Omegamon shouted attacking Shaitanmon with the cannon in the Metal Garurumon head. Shaitanmon threw what was left of the Splendor Blade at the attack causing an explosion. Before the smoke could clear several black chains came from it wrapping around Ofanimon squeezing her tightly.

“Excalibur!” Holy Angemon shouted attacking the chains with his energy sword shattering them.

“Thanks, Holy Angemon,” Ofanimon said and Holy Angemon nodded.

“This isn’t going to be easy…” Omegamon said to no one in particular.

Shaitanmon just grinned. “Aw~ aren’t we having fun?” he asked before laughing holding back on his urge to start dancing.

“You call this fun?” Imperialdramon Fighter Mode asked.

Shaitanmon shrugged. “Well I must admit it would be more fun if you guys weren’t here to ruin it but then again I can’t be too picky I guess,” he answered laughing again.

“Is this guy sane?” Ofanimon asked looking at Holy Angemon.

“I think he isn’t…” Holy Angemon responded.

Ofanimon shook her head and moved to attack. “Sefirot Crystal!” she shouted several crystals appearing around her before being fired at Shaitanmon.

Shaitanmon dodged the crystals eyes narrowing slightly. “I’m tired of this! Play time is over! Game Over!” he shouted several chains coming out catching Omegamon, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, and Ofanimon within the chains. Before Holy Angemon could move to help one of them Shaitanmon appeared in front of him using speed he had only shown a few times grabbing Holy Angemon’s throat with his human hand.

“I’m ending this now!” Shaitanmon shouted as the three caught Digimon tried to get free finding these chains stronger than the previous ones. The Digimon that had been called back that could fly tried to get there to help Holy Angemon. “Decaying Claw!” Shaitanmon shouted stabbing Holy Angemon in the chest. Holy Angemon cried out in pain de-evolving into Patamon losing consciousness. Shaitanmon grinning let Patamon go and he began to fall.

“Patamon!” Takeru shouted and started running hoping to catch the small Digimon even though he knew there wasn’t a chance he could get there in time he was still going to try.

“This is the end of the line for Angel boy! Hope you have a good view blonde! Devil’s Descent!” he shouted firing the black orb at Patamon just as Omegamon, Imperialdramon FM, and Ofanimon finally managed to break free of the chains. All three of them tried to get there but before any of the other Digimon could reach Patamon the attack hit and exploded. Takeru’s eyes widened as he continued to run keeping focus on the spot he had last seen the small Digimon praying that somehow his small friend had survived the attack, but when the smoke and the light cleared from the explosion Patamon was nowhere to be found.

Takeru collapsed to his knees as tears began to appear in his eyes. “ _Patamon!_ ” he shouted as loud as he could his closed eyes tightly. His shoulders began to shake as the teenage boy began to cry. All the other Chosen Children could do was stare in horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN’s- Nasty enough place to leave a cliff hanger? Yes I’m evil *shifty eyes* Just not as evil as some writers. If you don’t know who Ofanimon is her English name is spelled as Ophanimon she is in the game Digimon: Dawn and Dusk. Why is Shaitanmon stronger then Omegamon, Imperialdramon, and Ofanimon? Cause the story wouldn’t be going right if he wasn’t? Or better yet let’s just say they underestimated him more than they should have. (July 2012; Or I was a high school girl who liked making over powered Digimon? xD Your choice XP)


	6. Chapter Six When Hope Shines Brightest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.
> 
> Sorry this took so long. I'll work on getting the rest up now. The problem was my laptop died on me which made it very hard for me to get these up. Thank you all very much for your patience and I am truly sorry it took so long. Please enjoy.

Before we met such things as hope

Seemed nothing more than fairy tales

Life had let me down so many times

But then we met

And before we knew it we where friends

Oh and you

Oh and you taught me so many things

That there are times that one must stand up for oneself

That I can’t always hide behind another

And there are times when fighting cannot be avoided

As I taught you fighting wasn’t the only way to go But what was most important

What I needed the most Was the ability to believe in hope once more

And just when I believed that hope had been lost forever

You

You taught me

That is when hope shine’s brightest of all

And like a phoenix it will always be reborn anew

And like our friendship can never be broken

 

_“This is the end of the line for Angel boy! Hope you have a good view blonde! Devil’s Descent!” he shouted firing the black orb at Patamon just as Omegamon, Imperialdramon FM, and Ofanimon finally managed to break free of the chains. All three of them tried to get there but before any of the other Digimon could reach Patamon the attack hit and exploded. Takeru’s eyes widened as he continued to run keeping focus on the spot he had last seen the small Digimon praying that somehow his small friend had survived the attack, but when the smoke and the light cleared from the explosion Patamon was nowhere to be found._

_Takeru collapsed to his knees as tears began to appear in his eyes. “Patamon!” he shouted as loud as he could his closed eyes tightly. His shoulders began to shake as the teenage boy began to cry. All the other Chosen Children could do was stare in horror._

This couldn’t be real…

It just had to be another nightmare, right? There was no way that Patamon would have been erased again so this couldn’t be real, but Takeru knew that this was indeed reality. That Patamon had been erased while the others had been unable to do anything to help him.

“No!” Takeru shouted as he began to pound his fists on the ground ignoring the pain it caused the burns on his hands.

Takeru had believed in hope. He had believed that Seraphimon could not be beaten and yet it had happen. If Seraphimon could lose what hope did the others have in winning? He stopped letting his hands rest on the ground his forehead almost touching it as well as tears rolled off his nose. Is this all his beliefs could do? Leave him helpless to do anything to help his best friend?

Takeru opened his eyes staring at the ground. For Patamon sake he wouldn’t give up just yet. The small Digimon hated when he gave up to easily. If Takeru was lucky all he would have to do was go to Primary Village and retrieve Patamon’s egg. Yet the last time something like this had happened to Patamon his egg had reappeared in the same spot he had been erased. Was it possible that the blast had not only reverted Patamon back to an egg but had also managed to destroy the egg? Takeru quickly shook his head to erase such thoughts from his mind. No he would not give up on Patamon no matter how weak hope seemed. He would not give up the things the small Digimon himself had taught Takeru. As long as he believed something was bound to happen.

Yamato, who had turned his attention to his younger brother, was quickly growing angry for what had happened. Yes he wasn’t the immature kid anymore that got angry at the drop of a hat, but with what had happened he couldn’t help it. He had not been able to stop what Shaitanmon had done to Patamon and even though he knew quite well that there had been nothing he could do because Omegamon had been captured in Shaitanmon’s attacks he still wish he could have done something.

Yamato glanced over at Taichi who was looking at him. Taichi nodded and Yamato turned his attention to Omegamon shouting at the Digimon, “Omegamon get him!” Omegamon nodded and quickly charged at the devil Digimon attacking Shaitanmon whose attention was on Takeru enjoying the effects that killing Patamon had done to him.

“Garuru Cannon!” Omegamon shouted firing a blast from the part of his body that was mainly Metal Garurumon at Shaitanmon. Shaitanmon blinked turning his attention from Takeru towards Omegamon hearing the attack being declared. He was not fast enough, however, to dodge the attack causing him to be hit full on.

Yamato grinned happily glad that an attack finally hit Shaitanmon and was surprised when he heard Koushirou, who was sitting on the ground with his laptop on his lap, gasp. Yamato blinked turning his attention to him. “What?” he asked. Koushirou glanced at Yamato before looking up at Shaitanmon again.

“Look closely at the injuries he got,” Koushirou told him and Yamato turned his attention to Shaitanmon to do as he was told. It took him a moment to see what Koushirou was trying to get him to notice, but when he did he gasped as well.

Digimon bleed just like humans did it was a fact well known to the Chosen Children, but it wasn’t true blood that they bled for they weren’t “real” creatures in the normal sense of things but digital creatures. What came from Digimon’s injuries was an almost see through red that upon closer inspection you could actually see the 01’s and 00’s in the blood which at some point made up all digital code in the world.

This Digimon was different though and Yamato didn’t even need to get up close to see just how different he was. From Omegamon’s attack a large gash had appeared on Shaitanmon’s chest and from it came not the almost see through red but true red blood. “What the hell?” Yamato shouted and he could hear some of the other Chosen Children gasp as they realized it as well.

Taichi turned his attention to Koushirou clearly confused now. “What is he part human?” he asked and Koushirou quickly shook his head.

“That isn’t possible… At least… I don’t think it is… It’s not like we’ve learned everything there is to know about the Digital World. It’s possible he may have been “upgraded” to seem more human,” Koushirou explained keeping his eyes on Shaitanmon just as confused as everyone else.

“Well I wouldn’t think it was possible for humans to turn into Digital Data but that obviously can happen or we couldn’t go to the Digital World!” Taichi shouted as he began to pace not liking this one bit.

“What do you want me to tell you Taichi? That yes it’s possible that the Digimon is part human? What good would that do? I mean if its part human wouldn’t killing him make us no better than murders?” Koushirou asked looking up at Taichi.

This caused Taichi to pause and he slowly glanced up at Shaitanmon. Yamato who had been listening to what they were talking about took a step towards the two of them. “Even if it is Koushirou, we can’t just let it go he has already plainly stated a few times that he wants to kill my little brother! I mean thinking along those lines would mean our Digimon are murders for destroying the Digimon that they have!” Yamato shouted.

Koushirou shook his head. “That’s different Yamato any Digimon they have beaten had a good chance of coming back and starting over. A human can’t do that! I’m sorry Yamato I really am I just don’t know what to say about this,” he told him as he looked at Yamato who looked away not the least bit happy because he was in some ways agreeing with Koushirou.

Kohana had paused searching for her missing sketch book when she had head Takeru shout out to Patamon. She had looked up just in time to see Shaitanmon’s attack hit the small Digimon. Kohana had almost taken off running to try and help Takeru somehow, but the fact that Shaitanmon still wanted to kill Takeru had caused her to stay and try to find her sketch book. If it really did have the clue she thought it did on Shaitanmon then it was the only thing she could really do to help her friend.

“Hey is this it?” Jou called a bit away from where Kohana was standing. Kohana glanced over at Jou who was holding a black book with no kanji on it above his head.

“Yes that’s it!” she shouted as she ran over to Jou. As she ran towards them neither one of them realized they were now directly below where the fighting was happening.

Shaitanmon who had been counter attacking the other Digimon had paused when he had heard Kohana speak up. It was the first time he had actually been close enough to the girl to where he could actually hear her voice. Not that she had spoken much since he had attacked. It reminded him of something and when he managed to bring to the surface what it was he didn’t like it one bit. He liked it even less once he saw the sketch book in Jou’s hands.

Growling Shaitanmon turned his full attention to Kohana. “Kysandra!” he shouted causing Kohana to stop running and look up at him with wide eyes. Suddenly Shaitanmon was flying towards Kohana, but before he could get near her Omegamon quickly flew in front of Shaitanmon stabbing him in the stomach with the Grey Sword. Shaitanmon cried out in pain and his body went limp.

Omegamon believing he had won began to pull out his sword shocked by just how much human-like blood now covered the Grey Sword. Before he could pull it out fully though Shaitanmon began to laugh in a way that made him sound truly insane. “I thought she seemed familiar… How could she not be? No matter how much the child has changed they’ll always recognize their own mother.” Shaitanmon said panic in his voice before he began laughing again as he pulled himself off Omegamon’s sword coughing up blood in the process.

Omegamon’s eyes narrowed as he watched Shaitanmon pull himself free from his sword. “Just what are you?” Omegamon asked and Shaitanmon covered half of his face with his human like hand.

“Hmmmm? Curious little knight aren’t we? Well can’t blame you… Let’s just say I am not quite human, but not quite Digimon. In fact, I really don’t have a clue what I am! For all I know what I just said could be a lie!” Shaitanmon said grinning showing his sharp teeth where covered in his own blood as he began laughing again.

Omegamon pulled his sword back getting ready to finish Shaitanmon off with the help of Ofanimon and Imperialdramon Fighter Mode when Taichi shouted as loud as he could, “Stop!” Omegamon glanced down at Taichi quite confused at the moment stopping his sword a mere inch away from Shaitanmon’s neck.

Yamato, on the other hand, was quite furious and had grabbed his best friend by the front of his shirt. “Taichi what in the hell are you doing?” Yamato shouted at him and Taichi grabbed Yamato by the wrists putting pressure on them until Yamato let go. “You’re not blind Yamato; if any other Digimon was wounded as badly as he was there wouldn’t be any blood! There would be a big gaping wound in his stomach with fragments of 01’s and 00’s falling off his body! If it is somehow human we’d only be proving the U.N. correct and then everything would begin to fall apart!” Taichi explained glaring at his friend.

“Tch!” was all Yamato said before looking away. “You get to explain this to Takeru not me!” Yamato shouted as he began walking towards his little brother kicking things as he walked to release some of his anger before he really did attack someone.

Taichi sighed rubbing the back of his head. He wasn’t looking forward to telling Takeru, but Yamato was right he should explain this to him for it had been his choice not his brothers. Looking up at Omegamon he shouted again, “Omegamon let him go we’ve got to figure this out before we completely destroy him!”

Takeru looked up when he heard what Taichi shouted and stood up when if fully dawned on him just what Taichi had ordered. He was about to run over to Taichi when his brother intercepted him grabbing Takeru around the torso pinning his arms tightly against his body. Instantly Takeru began to struggle against his brother. “Let me go, Yamato!” he shouted trying to break free.

“No Takeru, I’m not going to let you do something you’ll regret later on! Taichi has his reasons just hear him out before you start beating up on him!” Yamato shouted. He knew full well his brother hadn’t watched the battle take place and Takeru still wouldn’t look up at Shaitanmon. Yamato couldn’t blame him for not watching or being angry, but he knew if he did let his brother go Takeru would regret what he did later on.

Omegamon slowly backed up to where Imperialdramon Fighter Mode and Ofanimon where. “You sure? Won’t you regret this?” Shaitanmon mocked grinning.

“I regret it now!” Ofanimon shouted and Omegamon had to quickly grab her to stop her from attacking.

“Ofanimon, I know you were close to Patamon, but if he really is human Patamon wouldn’t have wanted you to finish him off…” he told her getting her to calm down slightly, but she was still trying to attack Shaitanmon.

To tell the truth Omegamon was having a hard time not attacking Shaitanmon as well. The Metal Garurumon part of him wanted to finish him off just as much as Ofanimon did while War Greymon was willing to listen to Taichi and trust his decision. It wasn’t that Metal Garurumon didn’t trust Taichi, but even this far away he could sense just how upset Yamato was and the only way he knew how to make him feel better was to make Takeru feel better. At the moment that equaled defeating Shaitanmon…

Shaitanmon laughed but he stopped when he began coughing up blood again. He then used his human like arm to wipe the blood of his face. “Believe me little knight you got lucky…” he mumbled and for a minute it seemed like he tried to find something hidden on himself but when he couldn’t find it he cursed. Then running his Devimon like hand through the sky he cut it open with one of his claws going through the portal that had opened.

Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, who wasn’t busy holding back an angry angel Digimon or fighting with himself, instantly noticed that the portal showed for a second a place that wasn’t in the Digital World, but something entirely else. Before he could figure out just what the place was the portal closed behind Shaitanmon. Omegamon let go of Ofanimon then de-evolved into War Greymon and Metal Garurumon the two flying to their respective partners.

By the time Metal Garurumon had landed next to Yamato and had de-evolved into Gabumon Takeru was no longer struggling to break free of his brother’s hold on him. He was leaning against him slightly his face buried in his older brothers shoulder as he cried. Yamato just held his younger brother not really sure at the moment what to do. He knew his brother already had some issues due to almost losing Patamon the first time. He hadn’t even been fully aware just how bad it had affected him. Now that he had lost Patamon for a second time Yamato was really worried about the effects it would have on his little brother later on in his life. Gabumon wandered over to them and hugged both of them around the legs the best he could and was rewarded with Takeru placing his hand on the Digimons head though that was the only movement Takeru did.

After Ofanimon had de-evolved to Tailmon Hikari had began to run over to the two brothers with Tailmon in hand when Taichi stopped her grabbing Hikari gently by the shoulder. “We should probably leave them alone for now…” Taichi told her and she slowly nodded glancing at the two before turning her attention to the others.

By then Kohana had finally managed to maneuver over the rubble to reach Jou and retrieve her sketch book from him. With sketch book in hand she began flipping through its well worn pages hoping she hadn’t searched for it for nothing. She was almost halfway through the book before she found the page she was looking for. It was a drawing of a young woman and a young man though it appeared the man was older then the woman. Above the two of them where the words “Happy Anniversary” and was dated about a month ago.

“This is what you where looking for?” Jou asked looking at the drawing.

Kohana nodded pulling a piece of tracing paper she had stuffed into the back of the sketch book out laying it over the drawing and folding the top of it over the page so it wouldn’t shift so much. Then she took a pen out of her book bag and began drawing on the tracing paper above the boy.

Jou watched as Kohana first drew the Devimon arm then the pants on the tracing paper. When she drew on the Cheshire cat grin that Shaitanmon favored so much he was beginning to realize why she had tried so hard to find the sketch book for the young man now looked like Shaitanmon even without the wings or the fur covered arm.“The others need to see this,” Jou told her and she nodded following him back over to where the others were at. When they had reached the others the Chosen Children had began discussing what their next move should be. When Taichi spotted Kohana and Jou walking towards them he turned his attention towards them wondering what she had found.

“I think I might know where Shaitanmon came from,” Kohana told him handing over the sketch book to Taichi the tracing paper still over the drawing. Taichi found it a little hard to believe that she would know when even Koushirou had been unable to find any data on him, but when he looked at the drawing with the tracing paper over it he believed her.

Koushirou, who had looked over Taichi’s shoulder, turned his attention to Kohana. “Where did you get the references for this drawing?” he asked.

She looked at him as she began to speak, “It’s from my mother and father’s computer. It’s a drawing of two game characters they had designed while I was in grade school. Their anniversary is coming up soon so I was trying to think of something they would like. I found the image of the two characters by accident when I was searching through their computer.”

“How much do you know about these characters?” Koushirou asked as he looked at the sketch book.

Kohana thought a moment before she answered. “About the girl not much my father designed her and he’s been working so much lately that I haven’t had any chance to ask him about it because when I found the pictures of their characters it was the first time I had seen them. As for the guy though my mom designed him and could tell me a lot about him and some things about the girl. The girl and the boy were brother and sister who grew up in a village. The village ended up being attacked and the brother would end up being hurt badly while the sister would get separated from the brother and start a quest to find him. As for the brother he gets taken in by an evil wizard who takes care of his injuries. What I do know was the brother and sister was both guarding a boy who lived within the village,” Kohana said taking the sketch book back from Taichi she turned the page to a drawing of an eight year old boy. The picture looked a lot like Takeru when he was around that age except the boy’s hair was longer then his.

“The boy ends up following the sister on her quest, but when they finally find her brother it’s revealed he blames the boy for the misfortunes that had befallen him and his sister. He believes if they had never been put in charge of watching him and keeping him safe then the village wouldn’t have even been attacked in the first place. In the long run he ends up trying to kill the boy….” Kohana tells them.

“What happens next?” Takeru asked causing everyone to turn their attention to Takeru. None of them had heard the two brothers or Gabumon walk up and were a bit surprised to see them there. Takeru’s eyes were red and his face was a bit pale with tear streaks running down his cheeks.

Kohana looked down at the ground. “I don’t know… Before the story could be finished by the guy who was in charge of it the company they worked for dropped the game for one they believed would sell better. Father might know more than mother does. She said he hadn’t liked the idea of dropping the game all together and she believes he continued to work on it with the guy that had been in charge of the story but right now he’s working in America and I can’t get hold of him because he’s so busy…” She told them wishing she knew the entire story of the game.

“I understand why Shaitanmon is attacking Takeru because he thinks he’s the boy from the story… But how come he tried to attack you Haru-san after calling you Kysandra?” Agumon asked looking at Kohana.

“That’s my mom’s name… She’s an American and everyone is always telling me I look a lot like her…” Kohana answered looking at Agumon.

“That would explain why he also believed you were his mother,” Gabumon said and Koushirou nodded.

“It would make sense that Shaitanmon believes Haru-san’s mother is his as well. After all she did create him. The fact that it was a game being designed on computers also explains how the Digital World got a hold of it and managed to make a Digimon out of it,” he said looking at his laptop before continuing, “But it doesn’t explain why I am unable to find anything about him.”

“Maybe him bleeding like a human instead of a Digimon would… I mean if he isn’t a true Digimon you wouldn’t have any data on him,” Hikari said looking at her digital camera. She had taken a few photos of Shaitanmon bleeding in case they would need them later on and was now looking at the photos.

Taichi was about to say something when he heard several sirens approaching their area. A lot of people had seen the fight taking place and the area had been somewhat damaged from the fighting. Nobody was going to be happy about the damage. There was no way they could try and say something other than Digimon had caused the damage with all the witnesses around. “Damn…” he said and grabbed Yamato pulling him off to the side so he could talk to him without the others hearing him.

After awhile, Yamato nodded and walked over to Kohana who looked up at him. “I’m going to drive you and my bother home. Taichi needs the others to stay here with him to help him with things around here. I just hope my truck is still in one piece,” he mumbled the last part as he went to go get Takeru.

Takeru followed after his brother and Gabumon as they headed for the area Yamato had parked his truck. Kohana walked beside him and there were a few times he saw her mouth open as if she was going to speak only to quickly close it again. Takeru was glad that she didn’t talk for he didn’t really feel like speaking to anyone at the moment. “Oh wow it really did survive…” Yamato said looking at his truck some of the rubble had barely missed hitting it though.

Takeru had been surprised the first time he had has seen his older brothers truck. He had expected his brother to get some type of motorcycle with the money he got from his band gigs. His brother instead had opted to get a truck one that had a back seat and four wheel drive not at all like the trucks Japanese usually drove. It was dark blue in color and was one of those that the cab was a few feet off the ground which made it harder for shorter people, such as Kohana, to climb into it.

When Takeru had asked him about the truck his brother had told him that getting the truck made more sense in the long run. Takeru had to agree with his brother, but he had seen his brother do a lot of things that hadn’t made much sense in order to look cool. Of course he had bought the truck after he had already been going out with Sora so there wasn’t a great need for the vehicle to look cool though Yamato insisted that it did when compared to the typical Japanese truck.

Yamato unlocked the door on the passenger’s side then walked around to the driver’s side unlocking his door and climbed in. Gabumon, who had ridden in the truck more than Takeru had moved the passenger’s seat forward so Kohana could climb up with Takeru’s help and get into the back seat. Once she was there Gabumon moved the seat back into place and went to get into the truck bed. Gabumon had quickly learned he liked sitting in the back instead of in the cab itself which Yamato had found quite funny at first which Gabumon hadn’t understood why and Yamato had refused to explain the humor to him.

Takeru watched Gabumon for a minute then turned his attention to climbing into the cab of the truck. He had almost made it inside fully when his D-3 fell out of his bag hitting the ground pretty hard. Takeru had heard it hit the ground and looked down at it hoping it hadn’t been damaged somehow.

At first he really didn’t think anything of it when he noticed his D-3 showed the time like it had always done. It wasn’t until he bent at the waist to pick it up that he really thought about it. If Patamon had been completely erased why did his D-3 still work? There would be no more purpose for it if Patamon was gone forever so if it still fully worked… Takeru quickly pressed some of the buttons to find out it was indeed fully functional. When it proved to be Takeru griped the D-3 tighter smiling slightly. There was a chance Patamon was still alive! Takeru climbed into the cab of the truck to show Yamato what he had seen hoping his brother would believe the same thing as him. It was then he knew he had been right to keep believing in hope.

::Else Where::

Patamon groaned as he slowly woke up his entire body in pain and at the moment he was having problems remembering just why he was hurting so much. Slowly the small Digimon opened his eyes to find everything seemed fuzzy to him. Shaking his head he ignored the pain it caused in hopes it would clear his vision even if it was just by a little bit. When he stopped shaking his head he could see clearly but all he could do now was stare at his surroundings. It was instantly obvious to him that he wasn’t in the human world nor was he in the Digital World either.

All around Patamon were frameless mirrors in different sizes and shapes. Some of the mirrors had even been broken to various degrees. Patamon then realized that what he had taken for him having trouble seeing was in fact fog that was on the ground. When he had shook his head he had stirred it slightly making it to where he could see. He stood up on his hind legs and was not at all happy to find out that the fog was almost as high as he was to where he could barely see over it.

The small Digimon was about to start calling for his friends when he heard movement behind him. Believing it was Takeru the small Digimon quickly turned around almost falling over in the process. Instead of Takeru he found someone else completely. Lying on the ground was a girl that Patamon believed to be around eight and it was her stirring as she woke up that had made the noise. When she opened her eyes, Patamon was quite shock to see that they were lavender for he had never seen a human with eyes that color before. Her hair he realized was the same color as Takeru’s and as she slowly sat up it was quite clear that it would reach her waist. As for her cloths all she wore was a plain white dress which for some reason seemed kind of strange to the small Digimon. It was then he noticed the girl had six angelic white wings and he realized that she wasn’t human like he first believed but was in fact a Digimon like himself.

She looked around for a bit and upon spotting Patamon she smiled quite happily. “Oh good your alright! I was worried I hadn’t stopped the attack in time,” the Digimon said clapping her hands together.

_Attack?_ Patamon thought then remembered what and been going on before he had found himself here. “Takeru!” Patamon shouted looking around for his friend. He was about ready to take off for the sky when the Digimon grabbed him wrapping her arms around his middle and he began to struggle to get free. “Let me go I need to find Takeru!” Patamon shouted.

“I’m afraid he isn’t here Patamon. He’s still in the human world,” she told him and the small Digimon stopped struggling as he looked up at her.

“How do you know my name?” he asked and her smile disappeared.

“It’s hard to explain…” she told him letting go of the small Digimon.

“Then what’s your name?” he asked now sitting on her lap.

“It’s Calilimon,” she answered.

“Then you really are a Digimon like me,” Patamon said to which Calilimon nodded in agreement. The small Digimon then looked around a bit before looking back at her. “Do you know where we are?” he asked hopefully.

Calilimon looked around for a bit as well thinking before she answered him, “I think this is a world of illusions.”

Her answer caused Patamon to tilt his head to the side in confusion. “A world of illusions?” he asked to make sure he had heard her right and she nodded.

“Yes a weird world if I do say so myself. I had wondered where he had got the ability to copy one of my attacks…” she said the last part mainly being directed more to herself then to Patamon.

Patamon was about to ask who she was referring to when Calilimon picked the small Digimon up off her lap setting him down on the ground as she stood up. She then began looking for something using her hands to stir up the fog. It was around then that Patamon realized that Takeru may in fact still be in trouble. “Calilimon do you know how we can get back to the human world?” he asked his voice quite urgent.

Calilimon paused in what she was doing so she could look at the small Digimon. “I can get us back if I can find my mirror. My brother most likely used it to get here at some point and it’s what brought us here,” she told him as she continued to search.

“What does it look like?” Patamon asked wanting to find it as quick as he could so he could get back to Takeru and the others so he could be sure that they were all alright.

“It’s small about the size of a CD and unlike the other mirrors around here it has a silver fame around it with feathers engraved into the silver,” she told him as she continued to look. Patamon joined her in the search for the mirror hoping they would find it quickly.


	7. Chapter Seven A Guardian Angel for a Guardian Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.
> 
> A/N - Oh as to why Patamon couldn’t tell Calilimon wasn’t human by her eye color there was a female actor that my mother had told me about several times that had violet eyes her name was Elizabeth Taylor.

_Calilimon paused in what she was doing so she could look at the small Digimon. “I can get us back if I can find my mirror. My brother most likely used it to get here at some point and it’s what brought us here,” she told him as she continued to search._

“ _What does it look like?” Patamon asked wanting to find it as quick as she could so he could get back to Takeru and the others so he could be sure that they were all alright._

“ _It’s small about the size of a CD and unlike the other mirrors around here it has a silver fame around it with feathers engraved into the silver,” she told him as she continued to look. Patamon joined her in the search for the mirror hoping they would find it quickly._

As Patamon had searched for the mirror with Calilimon a question had popped into his head. What was strange was the fact that he hadn’t thought of asking it before now. It was probably because of everything that was and had been happening to him that he overlooked it in the first place. Turning to the child like Digimon he spoke, “Why are you here?”

Calilimon stopped looking as she looked at Patamon. “I told you my mirror brought the both of us here,” she answered.

Patamon shook his head. “I know that, but what I meant was how did you end up coming here with me? The last thing I remember was being attacked by Shaitanmon. I never saw you once during the battle,” he told her.

Calilimon had in fact understood what he was trying to get at with the first question he had asked, but she had played dumb in hopes Patamon would drop the subject entirely. The less he knew about her, the better it would be for the both of them. Sighing, she began to speak, “I stopped Shaitanmon’s Devil Descent attack from destroying you. I didn’t expect that the explosion caused by my attack and his colliding would cause my mirror to activate.”

Patamon stared at her for a moment. “You stopped his attack? It took my strongest attack as Seraphimon to even stop that attack and even then the attacks were equal in power,” he told her not really believing her. She grinned not really blaming the small Digimon. This form was meant to look weak to trick her enemy’s so she had a better chance of using her abilities to trap them for whoever she was with to finish off.

“I was an Ultimate like him before the explosion occurred. I used most of my energy making sure both of us didn’t get consumed by the blast that had occurred and during it like I said my mirror was activated. It’s the only thing that doesn’t really change about me as I evolve,” she explained.

“Why did you help me? Don’t get me wrong I’m happy that you saved me but I’m sure that I have never met you until now so why would you risk being deleted along with me?” Patamon asked. The Chosen Children were not the only ones who had grown up over the past few years. Patamon had learned a few things such as there were times people helped another person for something in return and right now he was hoping that wasn’t the reason Calilimon had helped him.

Calilimon thought for a moment. She had hoped Patamon wouldn’t ask her that question. There were some things she didn’t want to explain to him until she was sure that the little Digimon trusted her and right now she knew he didn’t. Right now Patamon was on high alert because of Shaitanmon attacking him and he wasn’t going to trust just anyone. If she told him the truth there was a chance he would run from her and then she wouldn’t be able to return him to where he needed to be at the moment which was with Takeru keeping him safe.

After awhile she smiled having thought of something to tell the little Digimon that wouldn’t be a lie yet wouldn’t be the whole truth either. She could tell the rest to him later, but for now she just needed to worry about gaining Patamon’s trust. “Have you ever heard of Guardian Angels before?” she asked.

Patamon thought this was a silly question to ask him of all Digimon, but then again this Digimon didn’t really know him like his friends did. “Of course I know what a Guardian Angel is; Takeru told me I’m his Guardian Angel,” Patamon told Calilimon.

Calilimon smiled having figured he would already know what a Guardian Angel was with what he evolved into. “Well I’m your Guardian Angel. Newly appointed of course which is why I’m just now showing up,” she explained and by the way Patamon was starring at her she could tell he was confused.

Patamon blinked as he thought over what she had said. A Guardian Angel for a Guardian Angel? Now that was interesting. “Why did I all of a sudden get one?” Patamon asked.

“To protect you from Shaitanmon while you protect Takeru from him,” Calilimon answered which it was here where part of the lie came from. Yes she did wish to protect Patamon from Shaitanmon, but she had never been told to protect him it had been her choice alone. With her explanation done she began to search for her mirror once again. Patamon watched her for a bit before he joined in searching for it as well. He had a feeling the sooner he got back the better it would be for his friends. At the time though Patamon did not realize that most of them believed him to be dead not that it would have really mattered to him if he did for he still would have wanted to go back to them.

::Human World::

Yamato sat in his truck starring at Takeru’s D-3. He had to admit his little brother did have a point. If Patamon was really gone for good why would his D-3 still be working? Yamato was surprised by the fact that something like this could cheer Takeru back up to where he was behaving normally again. Then again his brother believed in hope much more strongly than any of the other Chosen Children. Otherwise he wouldn’t have ended up with the crest he had when they were kids. Kohana and Takeru had been talking about how Patamon could have survived such an attack as Yamato sat there thinking. Yamato was a bit shocked by just how much Kohana was talking having only heard her say a few sentences the few times he had ran into her when they were both at the Kamiya apartment. It made him curious and he filed it away as something to ask Sora about the next time he talked to her.

As the two of them talked though Yamato thought of something and regretted having to ask the question but he knew someone had to. It was to important of a question to just keep on ignoring it. “If Patamon survived the attack then where is he?” Yamato asked looking at the two as he handed Takeru his D-3 back. Takeru stared at his D-3 for awhile as he thought of an answer for his brother’s question.

“Could he have ended up in the Digital World?” Kohana asked. Hikari and Takeru both had explained some things to her about the Digital World. Takeru had also shown her some of the notes he had written down for the books he wanted to write.

Takeru shook his head. “I doubt it, but just in case I can get some of his friends to keep an eye out for him,” Takeru told her as he placed his D-3 in his pocket afraid it would fall out of his bag again which he really needed to buy a new one not to mention a replacement for Kohana’s cell phone since it was sort of his fault that it had gotten fried in the first place. As Takeru added the numbers in his head just how much this was all going to cost him he could see where he was probably going to have to get a part time job. He thought it was funny that now that he was sure Patamon was still alive that he was able to have normal every day thoughts again when just moments ago he was on the verge of mentally shutting down.

“We need to head home now or we’re going to get caught up in what Taichi and the others are doing. Which is exactly what Taichi is hoping to avoid by sending us home before the others,” Yamato told them as he started the truck up then pulled out onto the street.

It was about a ten minute drive by the time they had stopped at the apartment building Kohana lived in. Takeru opened the truck door climbing out and moved the seat forward so Kohana could get out as well. He then helped her climb out of the truck. Once she was out Takeru turned to look at her. “Do you need me to go up with you and help explain why you’re so late?” he asked. Both her parents have of course met both Patamon and Tailmon so it wouldn’t exactly be something hard to explain, but the problem was just how her parents would react to what they were told.

Kohana smiled shaking her head. “No my mom will believe me when I tell her what has happened though I don’t know how calmly she’ll take it. This will be the first time I have to tell her I’ve been in a fight that I could have been killed in. I’m just lucky my dad isn’t home right now he’d have a panic attack over this…” she told him looking up at the apartment building.

Takeru knew how she felt. His mother hadn’t exactly taken a lot of the news he had told her about Digimon to kindly at first and there were still times he could tell it had upset her. Not to mention when he got home he was going to have to explain a few things to her and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

Still he felt bad about what had happened. If it hadn’t been for him Kohana wouldn’t have been involved in the fighting in the first place. Takeru glanced at the apartment building placing his hands in the front pouch of his sweater then turned to look at Kohana. “Alright then, I’ll see you at school tomorrow… If I somehow find Patamon before then though I’ll send you an e-mail,” he told her moving the truck seat back into its original position. He would have walked her up to her apartment, but feared he might just place her in danger again if Shaitanmon decided to attack again even though there was a low possibility of it with his injuries he wouldn’t take the chance.

Kohana nodded smiling softly. “Good night Takaishi-kun and I hope you do find Patamon and quickly,” she told him and started heading towards the stairs. Before she reached them though, Kohana turned around to wave good bye to Gabumon and Yamato who waved back. Takeru watched her for a moment then climbed up into the passenger’s seat closing the truck door.

Yamato pulled back out onto the street and began the drive towards the apartments his little brother lived in. “So how badly do you think Mom is going to take all this?” Yamato asked knowing full well he hadn’t told their mother anything of what had been going on.

Takeru sighed. “I don’t know for certain, but I can say she won’t be very happy,” Takeru said which Yamato had to nod in agreement

“I’d go up with you and talk to her but…” Yamato shrugged not really wanting to finish the sentence. Takeru didn’t need him to he had been naïve when he was younger, which wasn’t all that long ago really, but he wasn’t anymore. Yamato and their mother did not have the best mother son relationship in the world and Yamato knew full well that in the long run it was mostly his own fault for things he had done including originally blaming her when she wasn’t entirely at fault. Due to this Yamato had a tendency of avoiding her unless it was absolutely necessary making Takeru either come to his apartment or out somewhere in the city if the two brothers wanted to hang out. Even then there were times he still had to come over and those times weren’t that great for Yamato or Natsuko.

Takeru reached over to the radio turning it onto AM and tuning it to one of the many news channels for the Odaiba area. Neither Yamato nor Takeru were surprised to hear what had happened was already somewhat on the news but for the moment it didn’t mention any involvement with Digimon. They were talking about how it could have been some type of gas explosion, a terrorist attack or something else. All it really meant was that the reporters hadn’t really had a chance to talk with those involved with the incident and most likely by tomorrow they’d be talking about how Digimon were involved in the incident. Takeru hoped it wouldn’t interfere with what Taichi and the others were trying to accomplish at the UN, but the chances were it would give more fuel to those who were “Anti-Digimon”.

Yamato stopped the truck in front of the apartments Takeru lived in and the younger brother climbed out of the truck. “Thanks for the ride, Yamato,” Takeru said as he walked up onto the side walk.

“No problem and good luck with Mom,” Yamato told him and Takeru began heading up the stairs to his apartment. Yamato waited until he was sure his brother had reached the apartment door before heading home himself.

Takeru was not surprised to find out that the door wasn’t locked when he tried turning the door knob. With how late it was he had been certain his mother would be at home. Sighing he opened the door and walked into the apartment. “Mom I’m home,” Takeru said as he began to take his boots off.

“Welcome home Takeru,” his Mother responded her voice coming from the kitchen. This made him wince remembering the mess Patamon had made earlier. He really had been hoping to get home before her to clean it up, but she had obviously beaten him to it. “Takeru what exactly happened to the kitchen?”

Sighing, Takeru finished pulling his boots off and replacing them with slippers as he walked towards the kitchen. “Patamon decided to make breakfast his morning,” he told her standing in the kitchen doorway his hands behind his back. He would delay showing her his hands for as long as possible

Natsuko turned looking at him. “How such a small Digimon could make such a big mess is beyond me. Where is Patamon by the way?” she asked noticing Takeru’s best friend wasn’t with him which raised a red flag. When they had been reunited after being separated so long due to the gates sealing after their first trip to the Digital World there hadn’t been a time when Patamon wasn’t with her son that she knew of.

Takeru wondered for a moment if he could ignore her question for the time being and have a quiet evening. In the long run he decided it would be best not to get her madder then what she was going to be. “Mom can you come into the living room with me?” he asked looking at her.

That was when Natsuko took a good look at her son. His school uniform was slightly dirty which she would have pegged on him playing some type of sport if he hadn’t stopped playing most of them in favor of writing. She was slightly conflicted over that she was glad that he was writing much like she did herself except she was a journalist and he was aiming to be an author, but writing had taken a priority for him almost over everything else including school work. She could also see rips in his school bag and the way he kept his hands behind his back raised another red flag making her slightly worried for him and the small Digimon. It was true if Takeru had never met Patamon her son wouldn’t be placed in danger like he was, but Patamon’s friendship meant a lot to her son and she wouldn’t trade that for his complete and total safety. She also noted his eyes were red and tear streaks ran down his cheeks. Something was very wrong here.

Natsuko took a step towards her son placing a hand on his shoulder. “Takeru what happened?” she asked.

It took about half an hour for Takeru to tell his mother everything that had been happening lately. He had almost started crying again when he told her how he at first believed Patamon was gone. After he had finished it had taken him almost twice as long to calm her back down. She was of course understandably mad at him for hiding this from her, but she was mainly mad at Shaitanmon for what he had put her son through. What really surprised him though was he also detected she was a bit upset at the other Chosen Children’s Digimon for not protecting Patamon better, but he wasn’t one-hundred percent certain on it.

Takeru now sat in his bedroom at his desk his hands freshly bandaged wearing a loose green shirt and khaki shorts. His mother had sent him into his room to finish his homework while she finished making dinner. He had tidied up his desk and had already finished up what was left of his homework most of it having fallen out of his bag. He even had enough time to ask Elecmon to look for Patamon in the Digital World. Takeru was beginning to wonder what happened to dinner when an instant message popped up onto his laptop’s screen. Blinking he clicked on the message to read it. It was from Yamato:

BigBadWulf: Mom is on the phone chewing me out x_x What exactly did you tell her?

Takeru grimaced as he typed a response. He really hadn’t expected her to drag his brother into this, but it couldn’t have been too bad or he would have been hearing it even in his room. Their apartment walls were not very thick in the apartment itself, but it was in between individual apartments.

GuardAngel: The truth… Sorry thought I calmed her down

BigBadWulf: No prob u’re not a very good liar anyways it isn’t exactly chewing out so much as nagging

GaurdAngel: Lucky. Spent almost 1 hr yelling at me. And thanx I’ll take that as a complement ¬_¬

BigBadWulf: *laughs* Seems u got off. Use to be longer from what u’ve told me.

GaurdAngel: Surprised not grounded… yet…

BigBadWulf: …..

GaurdAngel: What?

BigBadWulf: Just a sec BRB

Takeru blinked tapping the top of his desk as he waited for his brother to come back and type another message. He waited for almost ten minutes and was about to go grab his Nintendo DS Lite when another message popped up from his brother:

BigBadWulf: Be over in half an hour. Can’t believe she asked… Not that I say no…

BigBadWulf Has Signed Off.

Takeru’s eyes widened as he reread the message. When he was sure he had read it correctly he opened the door to his room in time to see his Mother hang up the phone. She then turned her attention her youngest son. “Takeru can you get the spare futons out for me? Your brother and Gabumon are going to be coming over,” she told him and Takeru’s jaw nearly dropped.

“For how long?” he asked heading for Natsuko’s room the extra futons being stored in her closet.

“Until either that Digimon you called Shaitanmon leaves you alone or Patamon comes back… Preferably both,” she informed him which shocked Takeru even more.

“Mom, Iori and Miyako live here as well you didn’t need to invite Yamato over,” he told her pausing at her bedroom door. Not that he didn’t want his brother over if his Mother had invited him he just didn’t want his mom inventing him over for the wrong reasons.

Natsuko smiled knowing exactly why Takeru was acting the way he was. Sometimes it was very easy to read her young son, but there were times she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking as easily as his brother could which always shocked her. This was also secretly another reason she had invited him over. Takeru would have a harder time hiding things if Yamato was around him all the time. It didn’t guarantee she would find out, but it gave her hope that at least someone else would know and could help Takeru in any way possible. “Don’t worry Takeru, I didn’t order him to come over or anything. I didn’t even get your father involved. I just asked if he would like to stay over here because he seemed so worried about you why we talked over the phone,” she told him then went into the kitchen to finish fixing dinner.

Takeru just stood there starring towards the kitchen. Maybe things weren’t as bad between his Mother and Yamato like he had originally though? Shaking his head he went to do as his mother had asked wondering were exactly was he supposed to set the futons up at.

The futons ended up going into his room after a bit of cleaning up on his part. Not that his room wasn’t clean but he had been digging through it before Yamato had messaged him in hopes of finding some secret stash of money he had forgotten so he could buy a replacement for Kohana’s phone. In the long run he had decided it was best to just ask his Mother for the money with a promise he’d pay her back later with the part time job he was going to get. That is if his school allowed part time jobs he’d have to look at the school’s rules first or just ask the principle. By the time he was finished there was a knock at the door and Takeru went to answer it as his mother was busy cooking.

Upon opening the door he stood to the side so his brother could enter. “Hi Yamato,” Takeru said as Yamato walked inside carrying a duffle bag and his guitar case. Yamato was wearing a black button up shit that was currently unbuttoned with a white shirt underneath and regular jean pants. Takeru also spotted what appeared to be a dog tag of some sort. He also had to admit he was glad his brother had brought his guitar along with him which Takeru figured meant he wasn’t going to give up his band just yet.

“Hey Takeru,” Yamato responded as he handed Gabumon the duffle bag and guitar case so he could take his shoes off and replace them with slippers.

“What was Dad’s reaction to this?” Takeru asked as he headed for the living room. Yamato thought a moment before answering.

“He took it calmly, but then again he’s the type that doesn’t show when he’s upset so there’s no telling what he thinks,” he said following his brother after taking the bags back from Gabumon. The Digimon followed the two brothers glancing around. He had only been in the apartment a few times for Yamato didn’t come over very often only doing so when Takeru couldn’t leave the apartment for some reason or another.

“Where should I put these?” Yamato asked indicating his bags.

Takeru pointed to his room before speaking. “Go ahead and put them in my room it’s where you and Gabumon will be sleeping.” Yamato nodded and did as he was told Gabumon following. Takeru glanced at his Mother before following his brother into the room. “Did mom really ask you to come over?” Takeru asked still not believing it.

Yamato sat the guitar case and duffle bag in a corner of the room before he looked at his brother. “I typed that she did,” he said pointing to the instant message conversation that was still on the screen of Takeru’s laptop.

“Yamato was more surprised by it then you were,” Gabumon told Takeru. Takeru just shook his head and smiled.

The rest of the night seemed to go by without trouble for which Takeru was grateful for. After dinner Takeru went to bed while his brother and mother stayed up to talk. Maybe getting attacked by that Digimon had some bonuses after all? He knew there was no chance that his mother and father would be getting back together again, but it would be nice if Yamato and his Mother had a better relationship then they did.

Sighing Takeru set the alarm clock next to his bed mainly for his brother who wanted to get up early tomorrow for band practice. He was pretty good about getting up at the right time for school while Yamato wasn’t. Takeru only really used the alarm clock to play it safe. Takeru glanced over at his laptop which was still on and decided against shutting it down in case Elecmon wished to get in contact with him. Turning the lights off Takeru pulled the covers back on his bed and crawled in.

::Else Where::

Patamon and Calilimon had searched for her mirror for hours before deciding it just wasn’t anywhere near them. After a bit the two Digimon began to get hungry and both decided it would be best to find something to eat. A hungry Digimon was a weak Digimon and neither of them liked the idea of not being able to fight. They didn’t have to go far before they found a tree with what appeared to be diamond shape fruit hanging from its branches. “How do we know the food isn’t an illusion?” Patamon asked from where he sat on Calilimon’s head.

“They’re not… It’s the mirrors that create the illusion. It would be best to avoid the mirrors at all costs or you might get caught in one of its illusions and never make it out of here,” she told him as she flew up to one of the lower branches picking some fruit for the both of them. “What we really need to worry about is whether the food is poisonous to us or not,” she said as she landed and sat beneath the tree.

Patamon blinked and looked at the fruit that the angelic Digimon handed him. _How can you tell if something is poisonous?_ Patamon wondered looking down at Calilimon who was examining the fruit. He knew from television that in Takeru’s world brightly colored creatures usually meant poison, but did the same apply to plants, plants that weren’t even part of Takeru’s world? “It wouldn’t make much sense to poison the food and set up the mirrors… But then again this entire world could just be one big death trap…” she mumbled to herself then just shrugged taking a bite out of the fruit. Patamon just stared at her wide eyed for a bit before taking a bite of the fruit himself.

“This is pretty good!” he said and continued to eat the rest of the fruit. The texture of the fruit reminded him of an apple but strangely enough the taste was closer to a blueberry which Patamon found quite odd yet at the same time reminded him of his home world where nothing really made sense.

Once both Patamon and Calilimon were done eating they began to talk to decide what to do next. “Do we really need that mirror to go home?” Patamon asked now sitting down beside the other Digimon.

“I could try using the other mirrors, but it would be dangerous for both of us and I couldn’t guarantee success. What is really strange is my mirror was only supposed to be able to take who ever I wish to and from the Digital World. I never imagined it could be use to bring someone to a totally different world like this,” Calilimon told him looking at the small Digimon as she did so.

“Then if you didn’t know how to do it how exactly did the mirror manage to do it?” Patamon asked tilting her head to the side.

Calilimon sighed. “My brother took it from me. Originally I thought he was just playing a prank on me like he usually does he has taken things from me before to hide them from me. This time I found out he had used it for something though I’m only now beginning to figure out what exactly,” she said and Patamon could tell she was not at all happy with her brother.

“Where is your brother at? I mean is there any chance he’ll try and help us get back?” Patamon asked and instantly he regretted asking the question for a pained expression came over Calilimon’s face.

“If it was a year ago then yes my brother would have come and gladly helped the both of us… He may like playing pranks on me but he is really kind and values family more than anything… But… Something happened to him… I’m not even sure if he’s really my brother anymore…” she said then shook her head. “No he will be of no help to us… In fact he’d just make things worse for the fun of it.” Patamon slowly nodded. He was beginning to put some things together but he wasn’t one hundred percent certain yet. Until he was though he wasn’t going to voice his thoughts in case he was wrong. He didn’t want to chase of the only thing here that was trying to help him.

Calilimon stood up and began dusting her dress off. “Anyway staying here isn’t doing us any good. We need to find that mirror and fast. It couldn’t be too far from us unless something managed to get a hold of it…” She said and once again they began to look around for the small mirror. As the two of them searched they moved their way out away from the tree in different directions to cover more ground faster. Between the two of them Patamon was having it easier during the search. He was shorter thus he could see below the fog while Calilimon kept having to flap her wings to clear the fog for a bit so she could look.

They searched for another hour before Patamon let out a triumphant cry. He had found the small mirror hidden in roots of a stump. The only problem was Patamon could clearly see cracks within the surface of the mirror and some pieces were even missing. Patamon just hoped that wasn’t a bad thing, but he had a feeling it was. Calilimon quickly ran over to him and kneeled down beside him picking the mirror up and brushed dirt of it being careful not to cut herself along the ragged edges where the pieces were missing.

“Can we get home now?” he asked standing on his hind legs to get a look at the mirror. Calilimon sighed and changed into a sitting position setting the mirror down in her lap.

“I’m afraid not Patamon… With the mirror cracked and missing pieces it would be like using one of the mirrors around here…” she said none too happy about this.

Patamon’s ears dropped and Calilimon looked at him patting the small Digimon on the head and smiling slightly. “I can give you hope though! Even with it cracked and pieces missing I can use it to check on your friends!” she said wanting the small Digimon to stay happy. It was only fair that at least one of them was happy and she would rather it be Patamon then herself. He deserved it more than her. Patamon watched as Calilimon took the mirror in both hands holding it to where he could see it. “Souls Reflection,” Calilimon said. At first all Patamon saw was his own reflection, but then the mirror began to glow then the image shifted. Patamon could then clearly see Takeru, except where the mirror was cracked which caused the image to distort while the missing pieces caused holes in the image itself. He was asleep in bed and Patamon could also see Yamato and Gabumon in the room also asleep.

Patamon smiled and looked up at Calilimon. “He’s alright!” he said happily and Calilimon looked down at the mirror herself.

“Yes and it seems his brother is with him,” she said pointing to Yamato.

“Which is good Gabumon will keep Takeru safe and I feel sorry for anything that manages to hurt Takeru with Yamato around,” Patamon said quite happy and calmer now that he knew for certain Takeru was alright. He had been worried that they had still been fighting or that without him there Shaitanmon had somehow won though it was the later he feared more because he couldn’t really imagine his friends losing. They had already won so many battles so why should this one been any different?

After the mirror quite glowing Calilimon placed it inside a pocket Patamon had failed to notice earlier. “Well it seems now there is no rush to get back to the human world… How about we rest? We’ll need our strength to be of any help to them…” Calilimon said leaning against the tree stump.

“What about your mirror how will we get back now?” he asked a bit afraid of the answer. Calilimon looked around them.

“Well someone had to make all these mirrors that are scattered all over the place. Maybe we can find them after we rest and get them to fix the mirror?” she suggested.

“But why would they fix your mirror if they haven’t even fixed their own?” Patamon asked pointing to several that were broken.

Calilimon shrugged. “Maybe the mirrors didn’t work quite how they thought they would? Have hope Patamon after all that is what your best at,” she said gently poking his nose with her finger.

She was right of course Patamon was better at hope than anyone else even better than Takeru. Patamon climbed into Calilimon’s lap and lay down as both of them closed their eyes to sleep. Patamon would have hope and he hoped he would be able to get back to Takeru before something really bad had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – More in depth look of Takeru’s personal life hope you liked it.


	8. Chapter Eight A Dream that Shouldn’t Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it

“ _Well someone had to make all these mirrors that are scattered all over the place. Maybe we can find them after we rest and get them to fix the mirror?” she suggested._

“ _But why would they fix your mirror if they haven’t even fixed their own?” Patamon asked pointing to several that were broken._

_Calilimon shrugged. “Maybe the mirrors didn’t work quite how they thought they would? Have hope Patamon after all that is what your best at,” she said gently poking his nose with her finger._

_She was right of course Patamon was better at hope than anyone else even better than Takeru. Patamon climbed into Calilimon’s lap and lay down as both of them closed their eyes to sleep. Patamon would have hope and he hoped he would be able to get back to Takeru before something really bad had happened._

Calilimon slowly walked through stone ruins she had lived in most of her life letting her fingers trace along the Digital Writing etched into the walls as she walked. The stone was rough under her soft fingertips and she could feel were the etchings had begun to vanish over time. Her other arm was against her stomach to keep the fruit and meat she held against it from falling. Something had felt wrong this time when she had returned home.

The first alarm that went off in her brain was due to the fact her twin brother had not greeted her when she had arrived home. It had been her turn to go out and find the food while her brother had to stay and guard their home. He had always greeted her when she had returned just as she had done when he had gone out for food. It was also a precaution in case one of them was followed home by a Digimon the other couldn’t handle on their own.

Calilimon pulled her mirror out of her pocket with her free hand and used it to look around the corner. Seeing nothing there she pocketed the small mirror and proceeded on down the hallway she was walking through. It was not uncommon for this place to be attacked by others; several Digimon had become curious after the twins had begun to live there.

At first the twins avoided them as best they could, but soon they had learned it was easier to attack them right off instead of ignoring them. Ignoring them had a tendency of causing the Digimon to leave only to come back with more of its friends to search the place better. This also accrued when they fought, but less often when they avoided the fights all together.

The ruins now had signs of a fresh battle the walls being scratched up and several pillars had been knocked down. She was beginning to worry about her brother, but she was not about to rush in and get them both killed. In her Child form she was weaker than her brother and her attacks would only work if the ones who were being attacked didn’t know she was there.

Once again she checked the next corner with her mirror and once she was certain it was safe she proceeded. This hallway lead out into a room that they had cleaned up and it was where they mainly lived within the ruins. She hoped to find her brother asleep in the room and sure enough there he lay in the middle of the room on one of the beds they had made out of the big leaves that grew on trees in the Digital World.

Her brother was of course at the Child stage such as herself and looked to be an eight year old human boy. His hair unlike hers was black and was shoulder length pulled back into a pony tail though his eyes were the same lavender as hers. Like her he had six angelic wings coming from his back but where hers were white his were black. He was wearing a black Tai Chi uniform and he was completely bare foot.

Smiling Calilimon walked towards her brother stopping to set the food down on their “table” which was also just a pile of leaves “Oi! It’s not fair that you get to sleep Tsumon while I work!” she shouted as she made her way towards her brother. Once she reached him though she realized he wasn’t sleeping.

Tusmon’s cheeks were bright red and sweat was running down his face. He had dug his fingers as far as he could into the dirt that made the floor of the ruins and Calilimon could see blood on her brothers’ hands. His breathing was labored and Calilimon could tell by the way his face was scrunched up he was in pain. “Tusmon what’s wrong!” she shouted shaking her brother’s shoulders panicking slightly.

Tsumon opened one of his eyes looking up at his sister. “Calilimon run…” he mumbled as he began pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“ _Why?_ I’m not going to leave you when you’re like this. Who did this to you?” Calilimon shouted noticing the feathers on his left wings began to fall off disappearing before they even hit the ground.

“That’s just it… No one did…” he said sitting up as he placed his hands on his face. For the first time Calilimon got a good look at his hands and she gasped. The right one had vicious claws coming out of it and from the blood coming from his fingers Calilimon guessed he had tried several times to wear them down on the walls thus the claw marks she had seen earlier. His left hand looked liked he had accidently stabbed it with his own claws.

Calilimon quickly stood up grabbing onto her brothers left arm as she began to pull him into a standing position. “Come on I’ll take you to someone who can help! The Digimon have been talking about one of the Chosen Children who is treating Digimon!” she shouted desperately. She didn’t want to lose her brother he was only Digimon she could count on.

Her brother shook her off and looked at her with a pained expression. “I don’t want to hurt you… If you won’t leave then I will!” he shouted and took off running down through the halls of the ruins. Calilimon did not hesitate in running after her brother and found him collapsed once again on the grass outside a few feet from the entrance.

This time she did not approach her brother but just stood there starring at him sensing something that held her back. A red and black aura began to appear around him and soon it had become so dense she could no longer see her brother. It took her a moment to realize that he was evolving. They had always evolved close to one another. Would she go through the same painful process as him? The thought made her shudder.

Soon the aura had disappeared and her brother still lay on the ground. No longer did he have six angelic wings he only had one and that was on his right side on his left was a demonic like one. His shirt had disappeared though he still wore the baggy pants of the black tai chi uniform. The vicious claws coming from his right hand had turned red and were at least a foot long while his left arm had patches of fur on it. His ears had become pointed and Calilimon could see some earrings in one. His hair was short and had been brushed back on the sides and spiked. Not only that but he appeared to be at least 19 years old.

Slowly he stood up keeping his back to her. “Tsumon?” she asked not sure what his name was at this point.

“Yaumon…” he responded weakly placing his left hand on his face. Taking this as a good sign Calilimon quickly ran in front of him ignoring the sense of dread that was coming from the bottom of her heart. From here she could see his eyes were still lavender though they kept switching back and forth between that and red which she found odd. The last few times they had evolved something like this hadn’t happened.

He swayed slightly and instantly Calilimon placed her hands on his chest to steady him. “Yaumon are you alright?” she asked looking up at her brother for he was taller than her now.

Slowly Yaumon nodded as he looked past his sister placing both hands on her shoulders to help keep himself steady though he avoided digging the claws into her. Curious as to what her brother was looking at Calilimon looked over her shoulder. Out there a bit of a distance from them was one of the Chosen Children talking to a group of Digimon. She couldn’t name which one it was but she knew the Digimon that sat on his shoulder was named Patamon. She looked up at her brother. “What’s so interesting about him?” she asked quite curiously thinking maybe her brother wanted to ask him for help, she hoped that was the reason any way. When his eyes turned red though and stayed red she began to have her doubts.

Yaumon’s eyes narrowed growling slightly as he pushed Calilimon out from in front of him and spread his wings taking off. Calilimon could instantly tell what her brother was planning to do; she was after all his twin. Quickly she took off after her brother since he was not use to his new form she was able to fly faster than him and soon caught up to him. She dove down from above him pushing him to the ground causing him to growl quite loudly. “No! Yaumon you can’t attack him! His Digimon will kill you!” she screamed only to be pushed very violently off by her brother landing a few feet from him.

He was about to take off again when a bright light surrounded his sister drawing his attention back at her. When the light cleared a young woman of 19 now stood instead of the young child. Her hair and eyes were the same color though the hair on each side had been tied up into a bun with long white ribbons while the back was left alone and was waist length. She still had her six angelic wings that now had a slight lavender tint to them. She was wearing a grey tunic that came to the middle of her thighs which and a three inch wide belt tying it down to her waist. Her mirror was still with her having had lace added to the back and was now tied to the belt. She also wore knee length grey pants but was still bare foot. On her hands she wore grey fingerless gloves that reached the middle of her upper arm. Strapped to her left thigh was a quiver full of silver arrows.

Yaumon’s eyes turned lavender for a moment and his sister was beginning to understand what that meant. It made her heart ache knowing her brother had somehow been broken in two. This time it was his turn to ask, “Calilimon?”

She smiled softly and shook her head slowly and cautiously walking towards him. “I’m Hantamon now. Yaumon lets go back into the ruins,” She said softly holding out her hand to him a soft smiling gracing her lips. She had to keep him calm afraid that any sudden movement or if he sensed any hostility from her would cause him to attack.

Yaumon took a step back his eyes turning red again. “No I have to kill him! He’s the cause of all our troubles!” he shouted sounding slightly confused and looked disoriented.

Hantamon stopped walking towards him and began to speak in a soothing voice, one that was left over from her Child stage that was in fact one of her Child stage abilities. It was used to calm other Digimon into a false sense of security so her brother, or someone else, could attack. They were built in twos for many reasons including she had no attack of her own in her Child stage. “He won’t harm us brother and we never had any troubles that could be connected to a Chosen Child,” she said as she began walking towards him her hand reaching for him again. Yaumon’s eyes turned lavender again and with his non-clawed hand he gently took his sisters hand in his. Suddenly his eyes turned red again and he pulled her towards him as hard as he could as he impaled her through the chest with his new found claws.

Hantamon gasped at the pain looking down at the arm that impaled her as it began to be covered in her human like blood shock clearly showing on her face. She then looked up at her brother confusion showing in her eyes. His eyes were lavender again and he had a look of deep sorrow and regret but all too quickly his eyes turned red again his face going blank. “That will not work on me my dear sister. How many times have I seen you use that same trick?” he asked and chuckled as he began to pull his arm out.

Quickly Hantamon grabbed her brother’s arm with her right one so he couldn’t pull away from her and she reached for the silver arrows with her other one. Before he could free himself from her grip Hantamon had grabbed all the arrows with her hand and had driven them into his chest almost all the way up to the silver feathers on the ends of them.

Yaumon growled in pain as he threw Hantamon to the ground. “ _You treacherous bitch!_ ” he howled as he fell to his knees.

“Remember brother… We are twins for a reason…” she mumbled as her eyes slowly began to close. He was her sword fighting for them both when she in her Child Stage was only able to use illusions and tricks. He was there for the error in her Digital Code that had appeared. As for her, she was his lock, a balance for his Digital Code that was for some unknown reason had become unbalanced and she was only now beginning to understand her part in all of this. To stop him from doing exactly what he was trying to do now.

“This won’t stop me!” he shouted as he staggered to his feet and took off.

“For now it will…” she mumbled as her eyes closed.

Only to reopen once again as she awoke and she was once again Calilimon who held a sleeping Patamon in her lap. Calilimon sighed sadly as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. How she wished that it was nothing more than a nightmare not memories that haunted her when she slept, but they were a constant reminder of what she had to do. The two attacks from then had caused both twins to revert back to their Child Stage. She had succeeded for the time in stopping him. It hadn’t taken long for him to evolve once more into is Adult stage and this time she had been unable to stop him. How both of them had recovered from the wounds and only reverted to their Child Stage was a mystery to her.

Carefully Calilimon picked Patamon up as to not wake him when she stood up. She knew better by now that if she tried to go back to sleep her mind wouldn’t let her for it would keep playing those memories over and over again until something else could distract her enough from them. So she figured if she couldn’t sleep she’d walk while Patamon did and would hope she could find someone to fix her mirror before her brother did something that caused her to have to destroy him for good.

::Human World::

Kohana sat in her parent’s office all the lights off as she scrolled through different things on her parents work computer. She had waited until her mother had fallen asleep to sneak in here to try and find something on the game without her mother interrupting her or getting mad at her. So far she had little success in the matter having only found things to deal with the latest game her parents had been working on. Sighing she removed the scrunchie from her wrist and pulled her lose hair back into a pony tail. As late as she was up she was in her pajama’s which consisted of a light blue long sleeve shirt and shorts covered in purple stars.

Kohana knew for certain the game data had to be on this computer. With no company to fund it the game could be nowhere else. Which made her wonder why was he working on it the first place? Yes her parent’s computer wasn’t one bought in the store pre-made, but was made by one of their computer friends so it was more powerful than the average computer. It just didn’t have enough power though to make the beautiful games her father and mother worked on. So why work on it? He wouldn’t be able to tell how his complex coding worked until he got it onto a stronger computer…

Groaning from frustration Kohana let her head drop to the computer desk resting her forehead against it. She was missing something. Her father NEVER did anything code related on this computer neither did her mother. They used it draw concept art for the game. Why was he acting different with this particular game? Not to mention why hadn’t he brought his own wife into the project? He had a tendency of working on it when both her Mother and she were asleep so he seemed to be hiding it from them as well.

She only knew he was working on it at those times because she had gotten up once due to a nightmare and had gotten up to watch television until her mind calmed down long enough to go back to sleep. She had seen lights on in the office that night and went to find out what was going on only to find her father at the computer working with what she knew to be code from the few times her parents had taken her with them to work.

Kohana took the flashlight she had put in her pajama shorts and turned it on shining it at the wall clock lifting her head up to look at it. It was way past midnight and she still had school tomorrow. Sighing she turned her attention back to the computer and decided to try a few more things before she gave up for the night. She pulled up the search function on the computer and clicked on the All Files and folders option. Kohana quickly typed ‘game’ into the search function and hit the Enter key. Within a few minutes she already had over 100 results which really didn’t surprise her and the computer was still looking. Stopping the search she thought for a moment of a way to narrow the search down. With game Kohana quickly added siblings and hit the enter key. This time the search amounted to nothing.

Kohana sat and stared at the blinking cursor thinking. She then hit the backspace key until the words she had typed were gone and just for the heck of it typed in Shaitanmon and hit Enter. Once again she got nothing. This time she banged her head onto the computer desk with a thud. “Of course it wouldn’t be so simple…” she mumbled. She hit the backspace key a few times until only Shaitan was left and then hit enter. Yawning Kohana closed her eyes and waited for the search to finish…

…Only to open her eyes up to find herself standing in a forest full of red woods. It reminded her of the times they had visited the California Coast when they still lived in America and in fact was what she had done her painting as for the contest the art club had entered. Kohana quickly spun around in a full circle. _This better be a dream… Either that or I’ve gone crazy_ she thought noticing something was off about this forest. It took her a minute before she realized there were no sounds of chattering birds or scurrying things through the small ferns that grew on the ground. Shaking her head Kohana picked a random direction and began walking. In her dreams she was more confident in herself then in the real world and she wasn’t one to sit idly by while she waited for her dream to progress. Of course she had more control over her dreams then the real world thus that was what her confidence came from.

Carefully she began to climb over a rather large red wood that had fallen across the path she was walking and it had began to rot making it quite slick in some places. She managed to get to the top of the fallen tree quite easily but when she was getting ready to descend her foot slipped on the moss that covered it and she went sliding down. She landed on her hands and knees causing her to wince from the impact. Slowly she stood up and took careful stock of herself. Her shorts, the back of her shirt, hands, legs and feet were covered in dirt and the back of her leg and her knees were covered in scrapes which some of them were bad enough to bleed. “Just my luck…” she mumbled as she wiped her hands off on her shorts. “Most likely my back is scraped as well…”

Kohana wasn’t one of those who were foolish enough to believe that one could not feel pain in a dream. Past experiences with dreams she had, had of course proven otherwise so when she had started walking again she was not surprised that the scrapes began to sting from the movement. She ignored it telling herself she had worse than these in dreams and if this turned into a nightmare she could always wake herself up.

After awhile of walking she began to hear someone screaming in immense pain. The voice sounded familiar to Kohana so she took off in a dead run to find the source of the voice. She stopped though when she could no longer hear the screaming and looked around. Without the sound she didn’t even know which direction to head into but then she heard someone singing and began heading towards the voice something about the song also seeming familiar;

_I’ve got a lock_

_A little lock on my mind_

_Rusted open the key long gone_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

Kohana continued to follow the voice not quite sure what to think of the singing or the song.

_Falling down the long dark tunnel_

_Red is the color of the mind_

_Lavender the color of the heart_

_Oh how easily the heart breaks_

_Oh sweet Lavender hold on_

_Oh sweet Lavender hold on_

_Oh please sweet Lavender hold on_

_For the end is near_

_The end is near_

At hearing the last part Kohana quickly picked up the pace afraid of what it meant especially when the person quite singing. They had done it long enough for her to follow it into a small clearing in the forest with a stream flowing through it. Kohana was not at all happy at who she found. Shaitanmon sat with his eyes closed the wound was still in his chest and bleeding freely. Slowly, carefully Kohana began to back up knowing this now for the same type of dream Takeru had explained and she did not want to be here at all. As she took a step back though her foot came down on some dried branches causing them to snap quite loudly in this quite forest and she winced at the noise praying he didn’t hear it.

She had no such luck for instantly Shaitanmon’s eyes opened up revealing them to be lavender colored as he glared at Kohana. “You… I summoned Mother not you…” he said his voice soft and gentle much to Kohana’s shock which made her not as afraid of him as she was before for some reason.

“I see you realized I’m not my mother…” she said taking a few steps forward. This was a chance to learn something that may be of help to the others.

“Your mother? I wonder if that makes my sister and me your older sibling,” he pondered then he shook his head at the silly thought. He blamed it on pain it was messing with his mind. Not to mention the other one was still trying to fight for control. For his new “little sisters” sake he hoped he could keep the other one under control for awhile longer. It had been awhile sense _he_ had spoken to someone and it was nice. “Of course you’re not Mother… You’re shorter then she is…” He added teasing her like an older brother would chuckling slightly but stopped wincing for it hurt to do so.

Kohana puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. She hated the fact that she was short even more then she hated being so shy. Shyness she was sure she would overcome someday, but she had hit the age where she wouldn’t grow anymore. “Why did you want my mother any way?” She asked crossing her arms over her chest. ”I summoned _our_ mother,” He started putting an emphasize on our that made Kohana glare at him which in turned made Shaitanmon grin. She really was fun to pick on. “Because father refuses to help me anymore…” Kohana just stared at him now. Shaitanmon said anymore which meant her father had helped him once before.

“What do you mean he won’t help you anymore?! And when did he ever help you in the first place!?” She shouted at him getting closer to him then she normally would have in her anger.

Shaitanmon readjusted how he was sitting so he could look at her again now that she had moved. “My sister and I got in a fight about 4 years ago... It resulted in both of us seriously injured… I was afraid she would die I didn’t really care what happened to me… Somehow I was able to summon Father like I’ve summoned you… I got him to help my sister and was surprised he helped me as well… He somehow repaired us though it took energy to do so it caused us to devolve... I tried getting him to help again but he refused this time…” he explained and shrugged as if it really didn’t matter. It hadn’t really been him who had done this and the last summoning he had only done the first it was the other one who had done the last two summonses. _He_ wanted to live while he wanted to die to stop _him_ from hurting anyone else, but he knew it would also meant his sister’s death which made him regret the fact that he would most likely die.

Kohana clenched her fist tightly angry that he would even suggest that her father would help him, but then again four years ago was when he started working on that game again… Had he done it to help repair Shaitanmon and his sister? If so that would mean her Father was to blame for this entire mess and she didn’t like the idea of that. “Of course he wouldn’t help you not after what you have done!” she shouted at Shaitanmon.

Shaitanmon just laughed placing his human hand over his face. “You’re right of course…” he said lowering his hand so he could get a good look at Kohana. “But then why when I summoned Mother did I get you?” He mused aloud to himself and began pushing himself up into a standing position causing Kohana to quickly back peddle just now realizing being this close was foolish.

As soon as he stood up Shaitanmon vanished and Kohana quickly looked around trying to relocate him. She didn’t like the idea she wasn’t able to see him. Suddenly he reappeared in front of her causing her to scream in surprise. She would have fallen on her butt if it hadn’t been for his human hand quickly grabbing hold of her chin forcing her to look up at him. “Maybe it’s because _he_ mistook you for Mother?” he asked to no one in particular as Kohana grabbed hold of his arm trying to force him to let go hitting pressure points in his wrist she had learned from a friend she had left behind in America, of course there was no guarantee he had the same pressure points as humans did.

She didn’t really notice the fact that he had said he instead of I right now she was to afraid to really carefully listen to what he was saying. “Let go of me!” She shouted but he just ignored her. He continued to inspect her in a way that made her feel like some sort of puzzle he couldn’t solve.

Slowly he began to grin a Cheshire Cat grin which made her shudder. “I think I am beginning to understand why…” he said laughing as he vanished again.

Kohana quickly backed up against one of the trees not wanting him to appear behind her and started chanting in her mind over and over again to wake up. However, this was no ordinary dream and it didn’t work she remained stuck in this dream, no nightmare. Suddenly he reappeared in front of her putting his human hand on her shoulder and pushed back to where he pinned her to the tree his eyes turning red. “We’re connected just like Blondie and Angel Boy… I didn’t expect to get a partner of my own… This key really is something else for without it I wouldn’t be able to tell…” he said the Cheshire Cat grin still on his face. On one of his Devimon like fingers he twirled a small black skeleton key.

Kohana cringed at the thought of Shaitanmon being her Digimon partner. She had always dreamed what her Digimon would be like once she got one after she learned others besides Takeru’s other friends were getting them as well. The idea of Shaitanmon being her Digimon made her sick to her stomach. “You’re lying!” she shouted at him glaring up at him in defiance as she attempted to kick him.

Shaitanmon chuckled dodging the kick then leaning forward until their foreheads touched so he was looking into her eyes. “Oh you wish… And you made it oh so easy for me falling asleep in front of a computer…” he said laughing as he suddenly vanished again…

… Kohana woke up with a start then as fast and as hard as she could she push herself away from the computer sending the wheeled computer chair she sat in crashing into the wall next to the door causing several picture frames that hung on the wall to crash to the floor the glass shattering. Quickly she dove for the plug that the computer was plugged into and began yanking power plugs out until the light from the computer monitor went out as well as the light that signified the computer was on.

Sighing with relief that the computer was off Kohana slowly stood up shaking slightly as she did so for she had been holding her breath until just then. She then looked at herself already knowing what she would fine. She was in the same state as she was in the dream and looking around she could see foot prints from the dirt that was on her feet. She was going to have fun explaining this to her mother.

Kohana turned to look at the computer screen unsure of whether or not she actually believed what Shaitanmon had said. Slowly she made her way for the door trying to avoid the glass that was on the floor. She’d have to clean that up later but for now she just wanted out of that room. Opening the door she stepped out into the living room and began to head towards her room. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to sleep after what had just happened but she wanted to change out of the cloths she was in. She didn’t have to fear that she might have woken her mother up for the study had been sound proofed before they had moved in.

Kohana walked into her bedroom and went over to her closet sliding open the door. It was then that she realized she had made a grave mistake. Kohana had a laptop of her own one she used to keep in contact with her friends and did her school work on. What was bad was she didn’t remember if she had left it on before she faked going to sleep or if she had turned it off. It was plugged in so even if she had left it on she couldn’t hope that it went into hibernation mode. Slowly even though she didn’t want to Kohana turned around to look at her desk and quickly covered her hands with her mouth to keep from screaming.

Shaitanmon was in her room and was grinning at her as he laughed. “You missed one…” He said with a teasing tone in his voice that was crueler then before for his eyes were once again red. Before Kohana could do anything he had grabbed her and was dragging her towards the lap top. Kohana tried desperately to pull away from him to no avail as a Digital Portal opened up on her computer and both of them disappeared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N.- Shaitanmon is fun to write sometimes he really is and despite being what he is I am quite glad I made him xD


	9. Chapter Nine Red, Red as the blood on his hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copyright for it

_Shaitanmon was in her room and was grinning at her as he laughed. “You missed one…” He said with a teasing tone in his voice that was crueler then before for his eyes were once again red. Before Kohana could do anything he had grabbed her and was dragging her towards the lap top. Kohana tried desperately to pull away from him to no avail as a Digital Portal opened up on her computer and both of them disappeared._

Shaitanmon dragged Kohana behind him who was digging her feet into the ground the best she could as she dug her nails into Shaitanmon’s human arm in attempt to slow them down as well as to get him to let go of her. It was futile of course with how strong he was but she wasn’t going anywhere with him without putting up a fight. Growling and getting very frustrated Shaitanmon yanked Kohana by the arm throwing her down on the ground hard. Kohana yelped in surprise and pain for the yank on her arm had almost dislocated her shoulder. “What do you want?” she shouted glaring up at him. She was much too angry at the moment to retreat back into her shell. Her father had always said she was more honest and opened when she was angry.

Shaitanmon looked down at her pointing to the gaping wound in his chest. “Take a guess!” he shouted glaring right back at her.

“I’m not my dad! I can’t fix you but even if I could I wouldn’t!” she said standing up. “I’m not going to help you hurt anyone else!” She quickly took off running to get away from him. Right now she was willing to face any other Digimon then him. If she was lucky maybe she would be able to find one’s that were friendly and could somehow help her get home!

Shaitanmon growled flying after her. He dove trying to grab her only to have her jump to the side. While Shaitanmon turned around she quickly stood up running again. When something exploded in front of her she slid to a halt to avoid the small fire that was burning. Shaitanmon used this to his advantaged and quickly landed in front of her and grabbed Kohana by the shoulder digging one of his claws into the back of her shoulder causing her to cry out.

“You will fix me whether you like it or not!” he shouted digging the claw further into her shoulder. At this point Kohana was now crying and the only thing that prevented her from pulling away was the idea of making the wound worse. She could feel blood starting to flow down her back.

Only when the claw was completely covered in her blood did Shaitanmon release her. Kohana dropped to her knees once he did so placing her hand over the wound in attempt to stop the bleeding. “This should do quite nicely…” Shaitanmon said grinning taking a few steps away from her. Kohana looked up in time to see her blood turn into a bunch of 01’s and 00’s and float a few inches above Shaitanmon’s hand.

While he was distracted by whatever he was doing Kohana quickly looked around were she was. She was standing in an open field on a hill and she could spot a few Digimon who were doing their best to avoid looking at Shaitanmon and her. That made it obvious she wasn’t going to get any help here so she was going to have to get out of this herself. She really couldn’t blame them, but that didn’t prevent her from getting angry. At this point being angry was good it made adrenaline flow though her veins which made ignoring the pain easier.

Slowly and carefully she stood up trying not to draw his attention back to her. Kohana needed to find one of the Chosen Children’s friends here within the Digital World and she hoped that they would have a way for her to get back to her world. From what she understood by what Takeru had told her she herself would not be able to leave on her own, but she knew his Digimon friends here had the ability to contact him somehow. She just hoped she could find the right Digimon. She needed to get to a hospital to get her shoulder stitched and she needed to get out of her before blood loss made her faint. Carefully as to not step on anything to alert him like what had happened earlier she began to descend the hill. She glanced back over her shoulder and gasped at what she saw.

Above Shaitanmon’s hands floated a black Digivice and there was no doubt in her mind that he had created it from her blood. Shaitanmon turned his attention to her and she took off running. He just laughed as the Digivice glowed, the hole in his chest beginning to mend. “Go ahead and run _Partner_ I don’t need you anymore!” he shouted at her putting a wicked emphasis on partner. Kohana did as she was told running as fast as she could, crying from more than the pain in her shoulder. As she ran she could hear Shaitanmon singing once again the song taunting her:

_Red, red as the blood on his hands_

_But does Red care? Oh they find it great fun!_

_Is the sin of the Red Lavenders as well?_

_Oh sweet Lavender cry bitter tears_

_Oh sweet Lavender cry bitter tears_

::Human World Half an Hour Later::

“Takeru!” someone all, but screamed causing not only Takeru to jump as he woke up but Yamato and Gabumon as well. Takeru sat up in bed looking for the source of the yell when it happened again. “Takeru!” Takeru turned his attention to his laptop to find Elecmon on the screen. Takeru quickly walked over to his laptop as Yamato and Gabumon stood up.

“Elecmon what’s wrong?” Takeru asked now fully awake thanks to the second yell. Yamato and Gabumon walked up behind him to look at the laptop as well.

“One of your friends showed up at Primary Village. She’s hurt pretty badly Takeru and we can’t stop the bleeding!” Elecmon told him worry clearly in his voice

Takeru’s eyes widened as he looked at Yamato both of them thinking it was Sora, Miyako, or Hikari. Takeru quickly went to his school uniform looking for his D-3. “Elecmon, who showed up?” Yamato asked worried it might be Sora not that he wouldn’t be upset if it was someone else, but Sora was the one he’d worry about first.

Elecmon shrugged. “I don’t know I haven’t seen her before, but before she fainted she asked if I knew Takeru and I told her I did. She wanted me to contact him for her,” Elecmon explained. Yamato looked back at his brother as Takeru grabbed his D-3. He ran over to the laptop holding his D-3 up to the screen. A Digital Gate opened up and the two brothers and Gabumon disappeared.

::Digital World::

Takeru, Yamato and Gabumon quickly followed after Elecmon. He had been unable to connect to Takeru’s laptop directly from Primary Village and had to go a ways out before he found one of the small T.V.’s that made it to where he could. Elecmon led them to the small village that seemed to come out of a toddler’s imagination then to one of the houses. The doorway was so small that to enter it the two brothers had to duck down while Gabumon could walk through it without a problem.

Inside on a stack of hay laid Kohana asleep on her stomach with a Kudamon attending her changing the bandage on her shoulder. The Digimon had ripped the back of the shirt and the shoulder area leaving the sleeve attached to the front to keep her covered up. Kudamon looked up at Takeru and Yamato then looked back down at Kohana as he finished the bandage before floating over to the two brothers.

Takeru had a worried look on his face while Yamato had his mask of calmness on. “Did she say how she got here?” Yamato asked as his brother walked over to kneel beside Kohana. This close to her Takeru could see her breathing was labored and her cheeks were flushed.

Kudamon shook his head and spoke. “She did not. She only requested that Elecmon contact your brother once she established that he did indeed know him,” Kudamon answered.

Takeru turned his attention to Kudamon glancing over his shoulder at the Digimon. “How bad is she?” he asked not really sure he wanted the answer.

“She is not good I am afraid. As Elecmon no doubt told you we have been unable to stop the bleeding and she has lost a lot of blood. There is also the fact she has spiked a fever from something in the wound no doubt,” he answered none too happy. “We cannot do much for her for we are not equipped to treat humans. It would be best if you took her back to your world and have her treated there. If Patamon were here it would be a different story but I am guessing by the fact that he is not here you have not found him yet,” the Digimon wasn’t trying to be mean, but was only stating fact.

Takeru nodded then looked to the small door. “It won’t be easy to get her out of here…” Takeru said hoping the Digimon had a way to get her out besides the door.

Kudamon turned his attention to Gabumon. “If you could evolve to Were Garurumon outside of the house you could lift the roof off and get her out that way,” Kudamon suggested. Gabumon nodded and quickly ran outside to do as he was told followed closely by Yamato and Takeru.

After a few minutes Were Garurumon had lifted the roof of the small house and gently picked Kohana out of it. Then Were Garurumon quickly headed for the T.V. they had arrived from Yamato and Takeru following him the best they could. Once they reached the T.V. Were Garurumon carefully handed Kohana to Takeru and when he was sure he had her he de-evolved back to Gabumon. Yamato then opened a portal back to the human world and the four of them disappeared.

::Human World::

Once they re-appeared back into Takeru’s room he quickly headed for the front door. “Yamato, grab my cell phone, it has Kohana’s home phone number in it!” he called over his shoulder. Yamato looked around the room until he located his brother’s cell phone grabbing his keys as well.

“That is one phone call I wish you didn’t have to make,” Yamato said writing a quick note to their Mother before opening the door for his brother so they could head out Gabumon following behind them.

“Same here,” Takeru said as he headed for the elevator. He couldn’t even think of how he was going to explain this to her mother.

About half an hour later the two boys sat out in the waiting room with Gabumon. The hospital staff had not allowed them to stay while they treated Kohana once they figured out they weren’t related to her somehow. They had been informed they were pushing the rules just to allow Gabumon to stay. Takeru had a feeling that was a lie believing the staff had allowed Gabumon to stay because they feared a Digimon would attack the hospital. They didn’t even have to try and explain what had happened one look at Gabumon and the staff had a good idea. It made Takeru angry in some ways while in others he really couldn’t blame the staff.

So here his brother and he sat waiting for news on how their friend was. Takeru had gotten off the phone not that long ago with Kohana’s mother and was waiting for her arrival as well. At first Kohana’s mother didn’t believe him thinking he had gotten the wrong number but a quick check into her daughter’s bedroom had proven otherwise. Takeru sat his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands as he tried to figure out just what had happened when he heard someone call his name and he looked up.

Kohana’s Mother, Kysandra, came at a fast walk down the hall. It wasn’t hard to see why Shaitanmon had first mixed the two up for Kohana did indeed look like a younger version of her mother. Her hair was brown but was longer then her daughters and pulled back into a braid. She was indeed taller than her daughter, but there was one more difference between the two. Kysandra’s eyes were a lighter blue then her daughters. And the reason she walked fast and didn’t run? Kysandra was eight months pregnant and running just wasn’t an option.

Takeru quickly stood up and so did Yamato as she approached both slightly worried what her reaction would be. The two brothers mostly worried she would trip hurting both herself and the baby. “Takaishi-kun what happened?” She asked a look of worry on her face.

Takeru shook his head. “I sorry Haru-san I don’t know what happened. One of my Digimon friends said she showed up at his village in the Digital World injured. He wasn’t able to get her to tell him what happened before she fainted. My brother, Yamato and I went and got her then we brought her here,” he told her.

“Do you know how she is?” she asked looking from one brother to the other.

This time Yamato answered. “No they wouldn’t let us into the treatment room once they learned we weren’t related to her. I have a feeling the only reason they didn’t send us home was because my partner Gabumon was with us and they were afraid of a non-existent attack on the hospital,” he answered patting Gabumon on the head. Facility’s like hospitals frowned on the Chosen Children more than the government did. Too many of the staff found it easy to blame them for all the wounded from the various Digimon attacks even when it was well known that Digimon like Gabumon were there to protect humans not harm them.

Kysandra nodded then shocked both the boys when she pulled them into a hug. “Thank you to the both of you for helping my daughter,” she said then took a step back looking at the both of them though her hands remained on one of their shoulders her face taking on a look they had seen on their mother several times. “You did tell your mother were you were going right? Kohana told me what was going on and after what all has happened if you were my boys and suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night I know I would be having panic attack,” she told them.

Yamato could very easily picture his mother going into a panic attack at finding the two of them gone. “I left a note for her but it would probably be best to call,” he said before taking Takeru’s cell phone from him looking at his younger brother. “You already made a difficult call I won’t make you do another,” he said playfully as he ruffled his brother’s hair Takeru was tempted to whack the hand away. Then he took a few steps away from them and proceeded to call their mother.

Kysandra turned her attention to Takeru. “I’ll go see if I can find anything out,” she told him before she went to hunt down one of the nurses. Takeru watched her walk off before sitting down again.

Gabumon looked up at Takeru. Like Takeru the dog-like Digimon had been trying to figure out just what exactly had happened and had come to some conclusion for Gabumon wasn’t as slow as some of the other Digimon. “Takeru when Shaitanmon scratched your face you said the wound wouldn’t heal right?” he asked.

Takeru blinked and looked at his brother’s Digimon before he began to answer, “Yeah they wouldn’t heal…” Then it dawned on him what Gabumon was getting at and much to Gabumon’s surprise for he had never heard him do it before Takeru cursed. It also caused Yamato, who was still on the phone; too look at him though he had heard his brother curse before. It just didn’t happen very often. “I should have figured it out sooner Shaitanmon must have somehow pulled her into the Digital World,” he said trying to keep from shouting or punching something because he was in a hospital.

“But the question is why? You and Patamon both said he didn’t have an interest in anyone other than the two of you,” Gabumon pointed out and Takeru had to admit he had a very good point. Why would Shaitanmon suddenly change his target? The only way he would know that was when he could talk to Kohana and that wouldn’t happen anytime soon. This particular hospital loved to stick to the rules and only family members could visit someone after visiting hours were up and with how late it was he had no doubt they were up.

Once Yamato had gotten off the cell phone he had walked back over to his brother and sat down beside him handing the cell phone back. Then the three waited for half an hour before Kohana’s mother came back. She smiled happily at the two of them. “I got news. She is doing just fine! The wound required some stitches and she needed a blood transfusion. She still has a fever but they believe that the antibiotics they are giving her will take care of that,” she told them.

Takeru sighed with relieve he knew the wound itself wasn’t life threatening unless they had been unable to stop the bleeding. He was still worried about the fever. Could human antibiotics cure a digital illness? Yamato had something else on his mind though he wanted to know exactly what had happened and there was only one way to find out. “Did they say when she was going to wake up?” he asked

Kysandra nodded. “It won’t be until sometime tomorrow. You’re welcome to stay and wait if you want, but hospital chairs aren’t that comfortable and I’m sure your Mother would like to have the two of you at home,” she told them.

Takeru knew she was right and there was no point in waiting around when they knew she wouldn’t be awake until tomorrow. Takeru walked over to the receptionist desk borrowing a piece of paper and pen writing down both his cell phone number and his house number. Handing the pen back to the lady behind the desk he walked over to Kysandra handing the paper to her. “Here it’s my cell phone number and house number. There’s a chance the Digimon that attacked her might come after her again. If he does don’t hesitate to call even if it’s in the middle of school they’ll let us out,” he told her.

Kysandra nodded and smiled. “Thank you Takaishi-kun and thank you both once again for helping my daughter. I’ll call you when she wakes up no doubt your just as curious as to what happened as I am and I have a feeling it’s more important that you two know right now then I do. Now if you excuse me I am going to go call my husband and let him know what has happened. You’re lucky I was here instead of him. He would have gotten hysterical,” she said hugging the both of them once more before walking over to the payphones.

“I wish our mom was as calm as her,” Yamato commented before he began heading out to the parking lot. Takeru and Gabumon followed after him Takeru silently agreeing with his brother.

::World of Illusions::

Patamon was a little surprise to find himself moving when he woke up and for a minute was a tad bit confused. Then he realized Calilimon was carrying him and he looked up at her. When she noticed he was awake Calilimon smiled. “Good morning my little friend,” she said sounding a bit tired but happy. Patamon then with the help of Calilimon climbed up on top of her head.

Patamon looked around the area they were now at. It had less mirrors then before and more trees like the ones they found the strange fruit growing on. “How long have you been awake?” He asked looking down at her as he pulled his little legs under his head to rest on them.

“A few hours I couldn’t sleep,” she told him shrugging slightly as if to say it really didn’t matter, “But look at that.” Calilimon pointed to a head of them. It took a bit for Patamon to find what she was pointing at. There a ways ahead of them was what appeared to be some type of cave if he was seeing correctly. “There might be something living there that can help us. We should reach it sometime around noon if I fly,” she explained and flapped her wings a few times to get up off the ground and started flying towards the cave. Calilimon was starting to get nervous she could sense something was changing about her brother and she didn’t like it.

::Human World::

Takeru rolled over when he heard the alarm go off and hit the switch turning it off. He pushed the covers off himself standing up and stretching. Only to sit back down when he strangely felt light headed. Yamato who was also awake turned the light on and looked over at his brother. “You okay?” Yamato asked walking over to his younger brother.

“I’m fine I just felt light headed is all,” Takeru said looking up at him. Yamato blinked and placed his hand on his younger brother’s forehead. His forehead felt hot and Yamato shook his head.

“You have a fever,” Yamato said as he went to fold his futon up pulling the blankets off a still sleeping Gabumon. Takeru groaned out of annoyance and fell back onto his bed.

“Great just what I needed on top of everything else that’s going on,” Takeru complained.

Yamato couldn’t help but laugh. “What do you expect? You went out in the middle of the night in winter wearing a t-shirt and shorts with no shoes on either,” he said looking at Takeru as Gabumon began to stir.

“You did as well Yamato,” he said rolling onto his side to look at his brother who shook his head pointing to what he was wearing. Unlike Takeru, Yamato had gone to bed wearing a loose dark blue long sleeve shirt and pants. Takeru’s eyes narrowed as he grabbed a pillow of his bed and threw it at his brother. He was quite happy when it hit him in the face. Yamato laughed as he picked the pillow up.

“Is that any way to treat your older brother?” he asked throwing the pillow back at Takeru who caught it before it hit him.

“It is when he’s laughing because you got sick…” he grumbled putting the pillow back into its place.

“I’m not laughing because you got sick I’m laughing because you didn’t think it would happen,” he said as he walked towards the door. “Is mom usually up around this time?” he asked his hand on the door knob.

Takeru glanced at the clock then looked over at his brother. “She should be she has work today. No doubt she’ll have to write an article on what happened last night. Why?” he asked sitting up.

“Why else? I’m going to tell her you have a fever. If you’re lucky you won’t have to go to school today,” he said opening the door and walking out.

Gabumon who was now fully awake was folding his futon up placing it on top of Yamato’s then he wondered over to Takeru pulling himself up onto the bed beside him. “If you do stay home today do you want me to stay here with you?” he asked.

Takeru sat up as he looked at Gabumon. “Thanks Gabumon, but it wouldn’t do any good you can’t evolve without Yamato around. It be best if you went with him that way if I do stay home and something did happen you could evolve into Metal Garurumon and get him over here faster then what he could in his truck,” Takeru said happy that the Digimon suggested it though.

Gabumon nodded and hopped off the bed as Natsuko walked into the room. Takeru looked at his mother as she walked over to him and placed a hand on his forehead. “You really do have a fever,” she said pulling a digital thermometer out from her pajama pocket.

“Did you doubt me?” Yamato asked sarcastically a smile on his face. Natsuko turned her attention to her oldest son.

“No it’s just Takeru doesn’t normally get sick is all,” she said looking at Takeru then had him put the thermometer in his mouth.

“Nobody in our family usually does I don’t know how many times dad wish he did to get out of a deadline at work,” Yamato said walking over to his duffle bag to fetch his school uniform.

“That sounds like him,” she said as she waited for the thermometer to beep. When it did she pulled it out of his mouth and read the results. “38.6 (101.5 for those of us who don’t use Celsius) … I must admit when you do get sick you don’t do it little,” she said as she stood up.

“Does that mean I’m staying home today?” he asked not really wanting to but he didn’t want to faint in the middle of class either and worry all of his friends. This did make it easier to visit Kohana once she woke up as long as his mother didn’t find out that is.

Natsuko nodded. “Yes you’ll stay home today I’ll call you in sick later today. I just wish I didn’t have to work, but I think you’re old enough to take care of yourself. I’ll be back in a minute with some medicine though. I’ll also get a change of bandages for your hands,” she said standing up.

“I could stay home with him,” Yamato offered not liking the idea of leaving Takeru alone with Shaitanmon around.

Natsuko looked at her older son seeing the worry on his face and nodded. “Alright Yamato I’ll call in sick for you as well. With what has been going on lately and the fact Patamon isn’t here it’d probably be best if you and Gabumon were,” she said heading for the living room.

Yamato looked at Takeru then turned his attention to the door when he heard the door bell ring. “That’s probably Miyako and Iori I’ll go tell them what’s going on,” he said leaving the room as well.

Takeru watched as his brother left the room before lying down properly on the bed. Sighing he covered his eyes with his arm as he waited for his mother to bring the medicine in. He just wasn’t having any luck lately…


	10. Chapter Ten Cry Bitter Tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copyright for it.

_Natsuko looked at her older son seeing the worry on his face and nodded. “Alright Yamato I’ll call in sick for you as well. With what has been going on lately and the fact Patamon isn’t here it’d probably be best if you and Gabumon were,” she said heading for the living room._

_Yamato looked at Takeru then turned his attention to the door when he heard the door bell ring. “That’s probably Miyako and Iori I’ll go tell them what’s going on,” he said leaving the room as well._

_Takeru watched as his brother left the room before lying down properly on the bed. Sighing he covered his eye with his arm as he waited for his mother to bring the medicine in. He just wasn’t having any luck lately…._

Yamato sat in the living room on the couch his guitar resting in his lap a guitar pick in his right hand as he now and then plucked a random note on it out of boredom. It was 10’o clock in the morning and Takeru had gone back to sleep not that long after their Mother had gave him the medicine. Natsuko then left about half an hour later after extracting a promise from her older son that he’d keep a close eye on his little brother. Not that she really needed to get such a promise for Yamato always looked after his brother though he had backed off a little now that Takeru was older. After she had left Yamato had called his band letting them know practice was canceled. Then both he and Gabumon went back to sleep themselves. He had woken up about two hours ago while Gabumon had woken up about an hour ago.

Now he didn’t really know what to do. Sighing he got up and put his guitar back into its case not wanting to accidently snap a string with what he was doing. He zipped the case closed then opened up one of the smaller zipper pockets putting his pick inside. He had really wanted to talk to Sora today about what had been going on lately. She was always easy to talk to and had a different view point on a lot of things compared to Yamato.

He hadn’t really had that much of a chance to speak with her lately due to mock college exams and things like that. She was also the only one, besides Gabumon of course, who knew what Yamato had planned as his choice in future careers having feared if he told his father he’d laugh. Yamato knew Takeru wouldn’t but he hadn’t worked the courage up yet to tell him. He had promised himself he would do it before he graduated from school because when he entered college it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out by what classes he was taking. He had, in fact, used several fake practice sessions over the past few years to study so his grades would be good enough. The band had also agreed that a concert they had planned around Christmas time in about a month would be the last one they would do so they could focus more on school.

Gabumon on the other hand had found something to do and was sitting in front of the television watching some DVD’s. It was a children’s Anime that he was betting belonged to Patamon. Gabumon blinked his ears twitching as he heard a ringing noise. Pushing pause on the DVD remote he turned his attention to Yamato. “Yamato is your cell phone ringing?” he asked.

Yamato who had just sat back down pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and shook his head. “No it’s not mine it must be Takeru’s,” he answered getting up to head for his brother’s room hoping it hadn’t woken him.

The ringing had of course woken him for Takeru had placed his cell phone next to his alarm clock on his night stand so it would indeed wake up him. Opening his eyes slowly he reached for the phone just as Yamato opened the door. Sitting up Takeru flipped the phone open holding it up to his ear. “Hello?” he said still half asleep.

“Takaishi-kun it’s me Kohana’s mother. She’s woken up and won’t talk to me. I keep asking her what’s happened, but all she keeps saying is she wants to talk to you,” Kysandra said and Takeru could clearly hear the worry in her voice. The fact that she had called him when he could be in school and had not asked if he was going to get in trouble told him she was very worried indeed.

Takeru looked over at Yamato who was now leaning in the door way his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea to leave home with the way he was feeling, but the fact that Kohana was refusing to speak to her mother made him worry. “Alright I’ll be over there in an hour…” he told her and he could clearly see Yamato wasn’t very happy with him.

“Thank you Takaishi-kun I’ll see you then,” she said and hung up the phone.

Takeru closed the cell phone as he threw the covers off, setting the cell phone back down on the night stand. He then stood up and walked over to his closet to get a change of clothes. “And were exactly are you suppose to be going?” Yamato asked.

“To the hospital Haru-chan has woken up and she’s refusing to say anything other than she wants to speak to me…” he answered pulling out a long sleeve dark green hooded shirt with a front pouch and some baggy khaki colored pants.

“Alright, but I’m driving you,” Yamato said as he left the room. Takeru sighed as he headed for the bathroom to take a quick shower before he changed. He was good at putting up masks like his brother so it wouldn’t be easy for Kohana or her mother to find out he was sick unless his body betrayed him somehow. Right now he was more worried about Kohana then himself.

Almost an hour later Takeru, Yamato, and Gabumon walked up to the receptionist desk to get the room number for Kohana. Before they had left Yamato had insisted Takeru wore a scarf and gloves along with his coat before he would step out of the way of the door. Takeru did as he was told but now as they walked down the hall to Kohana’s room he took both the gloves and scarf off stuffing them into his coat pocket.

Takeru walked into the room followed by Yamato and Gabumon. Kysandra looked up from the magazine she was reading at hearing their footsteps and stood up walking over to them. She had obviously gone home sometime during the night for she was now wearing every day cloths… Well as close as you get to everyday cloths eight months pregnant. “Thank you for coming Takaishi-kin,” she said smiling.

Takeru nodded as he looked at her. “It’s no problem,” he said not too sure what else to say as he glanced around the room.

Kohana stood by the window of the room looking out it. She too was in everyday cloths wearing a black shirt with pink cherry blossom petals pattern made to look like they were falling and loose fitting jeans. Takeru figured the only reason she was still there was because she hadn’t checked out yet. Takeru slowly began walking over towards her not to sure what to expect.

Kysandra turned her attention to Yamato and Gabumon at that point. “Why don’t you two come with me to the cafeteria so we can get everyone something to eat and drink? On the way we can introduce ourselves to each other since last night is the first time we’ve meet,” she said. Yamato looked at Takeru and Kohana then back to Kohana’s mother nodding, understanding what she was really wanting. The three of them then left leaving Kohana and Takeru alone to talk.

“Haru-chan how are you?” he asked standing beside her hands in his coat pocket. Kohana turned to look at him and he could tell by her red eyes that she had been crying and it looked like she was about to start again.

“I’m fine my mom told me the Doctors said it wasn’t as serious as it looked,” Kohana said smiling slightly though Takeru could tell she was faking the smile. Unlike him and his brother her masks always looked fake.

“Your mother said you wouldn’t tell her what happened… Why?” he asked.

Kohana looked back at the window and so did Takeru. It had started raining since he had entered the hospital. “Because she’s eight months pregnant and the doctors told her awhile back that she shouldn’t put herself under too much stress… Not only that but I didn’t want her getting mad at Dad…” she answered laying her forehead against the window. The window was cool and felt nice against her forehead because all the crying she had done had caused a headache.

Takeru was confused now. He could understand not wanting to tell her because she was pregnant but he didn’t understand why she was afraid her mother would get mad at her father. “What did happen Haru-chan?” he asked turning to look at her.

Kohana closed her eyes as she thought how to tell him what had happened. She wasn’t too sure if she really wanted to tell him afraid of how he would react to the news. Even though she knew it wasn’t likely that he’d get mad at her she still was afraid that he would. She took a deep breath to keep herself from crying as she spoke. “Last night I snuck onto my mom and dad’s computer after she had fallen asleep to see if I could find anything on the game that I told you about earlier the one that Shaitanmon came from…”

Takeru nodded to show he was listening and waited for her to continue and she did. “I fell asleep in the middle of searching and dreamed I was in a forest. I heard someone screaming in pain and I ran towards them to help them, but then the screaming stopped… Then I heard singing it was that weird song of his and I wrote down what I could remember…” she said and turned pointing to a notebook that was sitting on the bed then turned her attention back to looking out the window. “Any way I followed the singing and it led me into a clearing where I found Shaitanmon still wounded from the fighting…” she said and looked at Takeru. “It was strange his eyes were lavender instead of red and the way he was speaking to me made me not scared of him… He was upset when he saw me he told me he wasn’t trying to call me as he put it.”

Takeru had to admit it was strange his eyes were a different color, but he couldn’t imagine Shaitanmon speaking in a way that wouldn’t make someone cautious. “Who was he trying to call?” he asked.

“He was trying to get my mother… I said something to him like I see you know I’m not my mother… He seemed kind of shocked when I said that and said something that shocked me more than him. He wondered if that meant his sister and him were my older siblings,” she said cringing slightly at the thought.

Takeru couldn’t really blame her. “Don’t worry Haru-chan I know for a fact that isn’t possible. Digimon can only have other Digimon as relatives,” he told her and she nodded. “Did he tell you why he wanted your mother?”

Kohana nodded again. “I asked him why and he told me it was because my Dad refused to help him anymore,” she said watching Takeru closely wondering what his reaction would be to that.

It took a moment for Takeru to fully understand what she had said, but when he did his eyes widened. “Your father helped him?! When did he help him!?” he asked and was a bit shocked when she smiled somewhat and this time it wasn’t a fake one.

“That was the same reaction I had,” she said explaining why she was smiling. “He told me that about four years ago his sister and he had gotten into a fight. It resulted in them both getting badly injured. He said he didn’t care what happened to him at that point but he didn’t want his sister to die. He doesn’t know how but somehow he managed to summon my Dad and asked for his help. Shaitanmon says my Dad helped his sister and much to his shock he helped heal him as well. From what I understand it cost both of them energy and caused them to devolve. He then told me he tried to get his help again this time but Dad refused to do so,” she said still watching him.

Takeru’s fists were clenched and he was visibly trying to control his anger. He had never liked the idea of anyone messing around with the darkness of the Digital World and had proved as much when he got in a fight with Ken when he was still the Digimon Kaizer. The only thing that did keep him from shouting or something was the fact that he wasn’t really sure if he was mad at Shaitanmon or her father. After a few minutes he managed to calm down realizing getting angry at this point really wouldn’t do any good.

“I think I know how my Dad did it as well… About four years ago was when he started working on the game again… I think he used it somehow to repair both of them. I won’t know for sure until I talk to him and from what Momma’s told me he should be home sometime late tonight,” she told him looking out the window again. The next part she didn’t want to tell him about. She was afraid if she spoke about it would be like accepting it for the truth in some way, but she knew of all people he deserved to know.

Takeru could tell something was upsetting Kohana because she was about ready to start crying again. Gently he placed his hand on her uninjured shoulder so she would look at him. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to Haru-chan…” he said his voice gentle. Something that had happened had obviously upset her very badly.

Kohana shook her head and really did begin to cry burying her face into her hands as she spoke. “He… He got curious to why I appeared instead of my mom… He vanished and reappeared right in front of me grabbing me by the face so I would look at him… At first he thought it was because he confused me with my mother but then he figured it out and…” she stopped unable to speak anymore for she was crying to hard.

This made Takeru worry he hadn’t known her very long, but for that time he had known her he’d never seen her this upset before. Before he could do anything to try and help her calm down though she started speaking again between sobs. “H-he compared us to you and P-Patamon... H-he said that he didn’t expect to g-get a partner!” she said shouting the last part and Takeru’s eyes widened now fully understanding why she was crying. The two of them had often talked about what her Digimon would be like once she finally got one and he knew better then even Hikari just how much having one meant to her.

Takeru wasn’t quite sure what to say to her now, but there was still a chance that Shaitanmon had lied to her. He took a step closer to her taking hold of her hands in his moving them away from her face so he could look her in the eyes. “Haru-chan there’s a chance he’s lying! There’s no way you would end up with a Digimon like that!” he told her only to have her shut her eyes tightly shaking her head in disagreement so he tried again. “Haru-chan as long as there isn’t a Digivice he can’t be your Digimon!” Takeru didn’t think it was possible but this only made her cry harder and made her sink to the floor. He kneeled down in front of her believing he was beginning to understand. “A Digivice… One appeared, didn’t it?” he asked his voice just barely above a whisper afraid he already knew what the answer was and he dreaded being right.

Kohana nodded. “That’s w-why h-he took me to the D-Digital W-world… H-he used my b-blood to make o-one to h-heal himself… I’m so s-sorry Takaishi-kun there w-was nothing I could d-do!” She shouted and the next thing Takeru knew Kohana was hugging onto him tightly her face buried in his chest as she kept apologizing over and over again as she cried. Now Takeru was really at a lost not quite sure what he should do all he could really do was hold her as she cried. He understood that not only was she upset about Shaitanmon being her Digimon, but she had also been afraid of what he would think of her now that Shaitanmon was back to full strength.

Takeru looked down at Kohana and tried to think of something to say. He was afraid if he wasn’t careful he could just make things worse in the end. He waited for her to calm down a bit before he spoke to make sure she would actually hear him. “It isn’t your fault Haru-chan…” he began and had to speak louder to squash the protests she was starting to speak. “I’m not saying this just to be nice Haru-chan, in no way what has happened is your fault! If it’s anyone’s fault its Shaitanmon’s. There wasn’t any way for you to know that something like that could happen and near impossible for you to stop it from happening!”

He shifted slightly so he could sit down in front of her for his calves were starting to hurt from kneeling so much. Then he pulled back slightly from her lifting her chin up gently with his hand so she was looking at him. He was happy to see that she had calmed down a bit but she was still crying. “I’m not going to be mad or blame you for what has happened Haru-chan and neither should you. Instead I’m going to double my efforts to find Patamon and put an end to this so he can’t hurt you again…” he said then remembering that Shaitanmon was her Digimon he added. “Hopefully, in a way that won’t destroy him forever, but to where he can be reborn and be your Digimon partner this time around,” he smiled softly and before realizing what he was doing he reached up with his other hand, wiping the tears off her cheeks because she had finally stopped crying.

Kohana slowly nodded before saying, “Thank you.”

Takeru blinked and looked at her now a bit confused. “For what?” he asked for he hadn’t really done anything in his view to be thanked because in some ways he even blamed a part of himself for what had happened. He should have realized something like this could have happened. Shaitanmon had shown interest in her near the end of their last fight, but he had believed everything was fine because Shaitanmon had mistaken her for her mother.

Kohana just smiled and spoke softly, “Just for being you.” Then she leaned forward and to Takeru’s shock kissed him lightly on the lips before she stood up.

At that point Yamato walked into the room carrying a tray of food, Gabumon and Kysandra were further down the hall having walked slower because the two of them were talking to each other. As he walked in he took a quick glance around the room. He noticed his brother was sitting on the floor a slightly shocked look on his face and his cheeks were slightly pink. He then glanced over at Kohana who was bright red and it wasn’t really that hard for him to figure out that something had happened between the two of them. Smiling slightly he spoke, “Takeru, Haru-chan, we brought food and drinks.”

Upon noticing his brother in the room Takeru quickly stood up as Kohana’s mother and Gabumon walked into the room. Deciding it would be best to think about what had just happened later he walked over to them Kohana following him.

:: World of Illusions ::

Calilimon landed a bit of a ways from the entrance of the cave not wanting to take a chance of getting attacked from approaching it in the open when she wouldn’t be able to see who was attacking. Slowly and carefully she walked forward watching were she stepped so as not to snap a twig and alert whoever was in the cave of their approach. Patamon quickly flew off her head and into one of the tree’s so as to watch what happened. They both had agreed earlier that it would be wiser if only one approached while the other watched what happened and back the other one up if necessary.

As Calilimon got closer to the cave she could see smoke coming out of the entrance _So someone really does live here_ , she thought to herself as she continued to walk. Sighing she stepped out into the open in front of the cave and called out as loud as she could, “Is anybody home?”

“Of course there is! Would you be so kind as to tell me who the hell are you?” a male voice shouted the last part was clearly sarcastic.

“My name is Calilimon and I was wondering if you could help me with something,” she began a tad bit annoyed as someone walked out of the cave and Calilimon had to admit it wasn’t what she was expecting. The young man who walked out appeared only to be a few years older than Takeru, yet younger then Yamato so she guessed he was about seventeen. His hair was black with electric blue dyed highlights and it hair would have reached his waist if he hadn’t pulled it up into a pony tail that was almost at the top of his head. As for his bangs they were just long enough for the tips to barely kiss his top eyelashes when his eyes were open. He wore a black wife beater shirt that showed his lean muscular arms and black baggy pants with three belts over it. On his hands were black fingerless gloves that went up to his elbows with several belts on them to tighten the gloves up and because his gloves were fingerless Calilimon could see his nails had been painted black at some point but the polish had chipped. On his feet he wore steel tipped boots and around his neck rested silver DJ headphones whose cord was attached to his MP3 player in his pants pocket. He also had a barbell eye brow piercing above his right eye which that eye was an emerald green while the left eye was a deep ocean blue and by the dark circles around his eyes he looked like he hadn’t slept in months. Several more piercings adorned his ears that had her starring at him. Looking at Calilimon he crossed his arms across his chest.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say you’re the original owner of the damned mirror that got me stuck here…” he said his eyes narrowing slightly.

Calilimon blinked looking at him. “Then… You know my brother don’t you?” she asked not sure if she could trust him now.

He nodded before speaking, “Yes the stupid bastard brought me here and stole something of mine before taking off,” he then looked past her into the woods. “Oi Rascmon bring the other one and don’t hurt him these two we can trust!” he suddenly shouted. Calilimon then heard Patamon yelp in surprise and she quickly turned around to see what was going on.

Out of the woods carrying Patamon in his mouth like a newborn kitten was a dog like Digimon that looked very much like a German Sheppard in color and body shape, but was the size of an adult wolf. Its fur wasn’t really fur, but flames that moved along its body to were the patterns of tan and black didn’t stay in place very long. As for its eyes they were a golden color and on its left ear was an ear cuff that was made to look like several silver wires pierced the Digimon’s ear before ending in several stars at the base of his ear. The Digimon padded up beside Calilimon setting Patamon beside her. The only reason Patamon had let Rascmon carry him like that? Because he had seen the several dagger sharp like teeth in his mouth before he had been very gently picked up and was afraid of getting hurt if he tried to get free of him. It kind of reminded him of his lower form Tokamon.

“I recognize this one Trace,” Rascmon said gently nudging Patamon with his nose as he would have if he was a pup, causing Patamon to fall onto his front legs, before going to stand by his partner. “He is the Child of Hope’s partner Digimon,” he finished looking up at Trace as the young man reached down to pat Rascmon on the head causing the dog Digimon to lean into Trace.

Patamon looked at the two standing before them. “You know who we are but who are you?” he asked.

Trace smiled mock bowing just for the fun of it. “My name is Tracy Lance Star, though most call me Trace for convince and I am the Gate Keeper to the realm you know as your nightmares,” he stated looking at them and smiling at their shocked faces. He just loved the reactions he got from people when he told them that. Just as much as he liked the reaction he got from people about his looks though he only had this appearance because when he was younger to many people had said his appearance didn’t really match what he was so he had made it match.

“Wait you guard nightmares?” Calilimon shouted wanting to make sure she heard him right.

He nodded. “Yes I do… Or did before I got stuck here and your brother took something from me…” he said but then shook his head. “Which doesn’t matter I’ll get it back sooner or later no one can keep hold of it for very long besides me or my sister and for some reason she has chosen to stay out of this…” he mumbled this more to himself than anything else. He was just now beginning to understand why his sister had stayed out of this and wish he had a choice in the matter. Being forced to stay behind to explain some things and help these two against his will made him angry. Not that he would have chosen different he happened to like the Chosen Children though he didn’t know them personally obviously.

“If you guard nightmares then why do you have a Digimon?” Patamon asked realizing he was stating he was neither from the Human World, Digital World or even this world.

Trace looked down at Rascmon patting him on the head again. “Technically speaking he isn’t a Digimon in the same sense as the two of you… Yes he can evolve, I think he can any way, and do all the things you two are capable of but he was never born in the Digital World. My sister, Luna, created him as a gift for me and one for herself as well. Due to this they are not as strong as they should be, but if I can get him to the Digital World that should change and he should became as real as the two of you,” he answered looking at the dog Digimon with what was clearly affection one would have for a very best friend.

Both Patamon and Calilimon were clearly confused by what he had just said. How could someone make a Digimon that wasn’t a Digimon? Neither of them was quite sure they could trust him because he was the Gate Keeper of Nightmares. “You said my mirror got you stuck here… How did that happen?” Calilimon asked.

Trace looked at Patamon then Calilimon then back at Patamon. “Does he know who your brother is?” Trace asked before looking at Calilimon once again.

Calilimon was about to say no when Patamon spoke up. “I don’t know for certain, but its Shaitanmon right?” he asked looking at Calilimon who starred at the small Digimon before she nodded. She never really though Patamon to be dumb, but then again she hadn’t expected him to figure it out so easily. “You could have told me you know,” Patamon stated, “I’ve dealt with Digimon before where one sibling was evil while the other one was good.”

“Yes but you haven’t dealt with one that tried to kill and is still trying to kill Takeru before, like my brother is… I was afraid you wouldn’t trust me and if you wouldn’t you’d end up stuck here,” she told him looking down at the ground.

“Don’t worry I trust you after all you saved my life!” Patamon said smiling at her before turning his attention to Trace. “Why did you want to know that?”

Trace just shrugged. “It was her secret to tell not mine and by answering her question I would have told it. Any way yes your mirror brought me here at the time though Shaitanmon was the one who had it. He brought me here to steal something from me and left me here because even without it I could stop him from doing what he wanted as long as my sister helped me,” he told them sitting down on the ground.

“Which was what?” Calilimon asked looking at him.

“He wanted to be able to control the realm of nightmares. I may be just the Gate Keeper who holds the key to the gates, but if I wanted to I could enter the realm and alter people’s nightmares. I must admit I did it when I was younger and behaving like a brat, but I hadn’t entered the realm for quite some time for I was helping my sister the Gate Keeper of Dreams with some things…” he told them as Rascmon lay down beside him his head in Trace’s lap as he closed his eyes.

“That’s how Shaitanmon did that then!” Patamon said and when Calilimon’s face turned to one of confusion Patamon quickly explained the dream or rather nightmare Takeru had that resulted in his hands being burnt.

“Have you ever been able to hurt someone within a nightmare?” Calilimon asked Trace who shook his head no.

“He’s not really doing it in their nightmares what he’s doing is dragging them into my realm which is easier done when someone’s asleep and attacking them there… How he’s doing that I don’t know I have a hard enough time bringing people there without worrying about killing the person or killing myself in the process. Someone or something is helping him…. Hmmm maybe that’s what Luna is doing...” He said looking up at the sky.

“Why don’t you know what she’s doing? Couldn’t she contact you in your dreams and let you know?” Patamon asked and once again he shook his head no smiling a sad smile.

“No unlike regular humans I cannot dream… When I fall asleep all I have is nightmares, which is one reason why I avoid sleeping when I can,” he stated then just shrugged turning his attention back to them. “Any way you two came here for something what is it?” He asked wanting to change the subject.

Calilimon took her mirror out of her pocket and handed it over to him. “We need to get this fix so we can return to the human world… Can you fix it?” She asked hoping he could.

Trace sat the mirror down in his lap and undid the buckles on his left glove before removing it. Starting at the back of his hand and going up and around his forearm was a black tattoo that reminded Patamon and Calilimon both of thorns. He picked the mirror up in his right hand and gently ran his left hand over it so his hand would not touch it. “Hmmm I can’t... My abilities are mainly destroying things. Creating is my sister’s doing,” he said looking at them then set the mirror down on the ground as Rascmon sat up opening his eyes. “But Rascmon might be able to being something my sister created…” he told them putting his glove back on

Rascmon nudged the mirror with his paws until it was in front of him and he leaned forward touching his nose to the mirror as he closed his eyes. He stood like that for a bit before raising his head and looking at them. “I could repair it… But pieces are missing and will need to be replaced.” He said looking at Calilimon. “Out of all of us being the type of Digimon who uses Illusions to her advantage you’re probably the only one who can approach one of the mirrors in this world and not be affected by it… If you can bring me pieces of those and give me a tiny bit of your Data I should be able to fix it,” he told her.

Trace looked at Rascmon wondering if he had something planned or if this was the only way to fix it then at the other two and spoke “I’d suggest taking the little one with you Calilimon in case you get caught in the illusion he may be able to pull you out…“ He had already seen the effects the mirrors had having seen several bodies of different creatures laying in front of the mirrors. If his sister wouldn’t get mad at him he’d destroy all the mirrors to keep them from trapping others within them. Out of the two of them his sister was the one who enforced the rule that they weren’t suppose to mess with other realms. If he did do it he had no doubt she’d turn him in to their older sister and he did not feel like messing with her.

Calilimon looked at Patamon then back up at Trace. “But what happens if Patamon gets trapped in the illusion as well?” She asked not wanting to drag the small Digimon down with her. Her brother had already caused him enough problems as it were.

Trace thought for a moment then he pulled the glove off his hand again and walked over to a tree touching it. Instantly the tree exploded little bits of it raining down around them. He glanced at his hand as he pulled the glove back on then looked at them and said, “If you two don’t come back in a few I’ll come get you myself… The only problem is my way will make it impossible to use the mirror you’re trying to collect the pieces from to repair your mirror which means you’d have to try again…” He pointed at where the tree was as a self explanation as why then added, “So let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”


	11. Chapter Eleven Answers lead to more Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.
> 
> A/N- I am going to stop trying to keep time passage between Patamon and T.K. the same it’s just going to make things to difficult.

_Calilimon looked at Patamon then back up at Trace. “But what happens if Patamon gets trapped in the illusion as well?” She asked not wanting to drag the small Digimon down with her. Her brother had already caused him enough problems as it were._

_Trace thought for a moment before answering. “If you two don’t come back in a few I’ll come get you myself… The only problem is my way will make it impossible to use the mirror you’re trying to collect the pieces from to repair your mirror which means you’d have to try again… So let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”_

After they had finished eating Kysandra had left to check Kohana out of the hospital. While they had eaten Kohana had told her mother bits and pieces of what had happened leaving out the parts that involved her father as well as the part that Shaitanmon was her Digimon. Kohana had no doubt her mother could tell she wasn’t telling the full truth for most mothers could tell when their children were lying to them, but she believed that her father had the right to explain his part in this instead of her. As for not telling her mother that Shaitanmon was her Digimon she had not really seen the point of telling her and she didn’t want to tell a lot of people if she could avoid it. She knew Takeru would most likely tell his brother and the others, but that was because they needed to know.

Yamato, Takeru and Gabumon had then walked Kysandra and Kohana to the taxi cab the hospital had called for them. When the taxi cab had left they had walked back to Yamato’s truck and had gone home. Takeru had in fact told Yamato what Kohana had told him on the way home and Yamato had told him he would tell the others at his High School when he was able to go back. Thus Takeru now lay on top of his blankets on his bed still wearing his normal cloths thinking while he stared up at the ceiling. He needed to get Patamon back and fast now that Shaitanmon had managed to heal himself because he had no doubt he’d be coming after him soon.

He could only hope that when all the Chosen Children’s Digimon who could evolve to ultimate helped them they would finally defeat him and that this time they wouldn’t pull back. The only problem was finding Patamon. He knew Elecmon was still looking for him in the Digital World when he wasn’t busy with Primary Village and he had no doubt Elecmon had asked others to help. The only problem was the Digital World was very large and it would take awhile to search everywhere, but Takeru had a feeling Patamon wasn’t within the Digital World. If he had been most likely Patamon would have returned by now on his own.

Rolling onto his side his arm under his head Takeru thought of the other possibilities. He doubted Patamon was within the Human world for the same reason he doubted he was in the Digital World, but he couldn’t be certain. He also knew the possibility that he could be within another realm like the place Hikari had ended up in or the one place that could make wishes come true. If he was in one there was nothing Takeru could do and he’d have to hope that Patamon could find his own way home. Basically at the moment there really wasn’t anything Takeru could do and he hated that. He felt so useless not being able to help Patamon and it was always like this. He always had to push everything onto the small Digimon when it came to matters of the Digital World. The only way he could help was with the planning, but even then Patamon’s higher stages could usually do that on their own. There was also the fact Patamon couldn’t really evolve without him, but even then he still felt useless.

There was one other problem that he was currently facing. After what Shaitanmon had done to Kohana he wasn’t entirely sure if it was safe for him to sleep anymore. With him being sick like he was he knew he needed sleep and his body was going to crave it more than normal. _So either I start drinking tons of energy drinks and hope that I still recover from this cold or I take the chance of falling asleep…_ he thought to himself, _I think I rather take the chance with the energy drinks… At least if I use the right ones they have tons of vitamins in them..._ He had some here for times he had to do late night study or for the very rare times when he completely forgot about a test and had to cram for it. He doubted he had enough to last him very long time though.

He moved to the edge of the bed and stood up walking over to his desk pulling the bottom drawer open. Rummaging around in it for a bit he pulled out four bottles setting them on top of his desk. When he was sure no more were hidden within the drawer he closed it. Four bottles weren’t going to last him long, but for now he didn’t need to use any of them so he put them in the pouch pocket of his shirt sitting down at his desk. He knew better then to lie down on his bed or he was most likely going to end up getting tried.

Sighing he began pulling the notes he had written for his books along with a blank notebook. First he went through the notes putting them in chronological order. When he was done with that he took a pen out and began transferring them into the notebook so they wouldn’t be on loose pages anymore just asking to be lost. Copying the notes like he was doing allowed other thoughts to demand his attention such as the fact Kohana had kissed him causing him to stop writing as his cheeks turned slightly pink. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been kissed before. Hikari and him had tried dating for a couple a months and had kissed one time on one of their dates. It wasn’t too long after they had kissed though that both of them had realized that they really didn’t love each other like that, but more like a sister and a brother love each other.

To be honest Takeru hadn’t really thought of the idea of dating anyone since then which was one reason why when Kohana kissed him he had been so shocked. Now that she had, he realized he had a lot of thinking to do. For one thing he needed to figure out exactly how he felt about Kohana because now he felt like he owed her some type of response to the kiss. Takeru laid his arms on top of his desk then rested his chin on top of his arms as he thought.

He was still sitting like that half an hour later when Yamato walked in with the next dose of cold medicine. Yamato had knocked a few times before entering and he had expected to find Takeru asleep because he hadn’t answered. At first he thought Takeru was thinking about what to do about Shaitanmon, but when he noticed his brother’s cheeks were pink he smirked since he doubted it had anything to do with his cold. “Just what did the two of you do after we left?” he asked causing Takeru to jump slightly.

Takeru looked up at his older brother. “What do you mean?” he asked though he knew full well what his brother was asking.

Yamato handed Takeru the cold medicine and a glass of water waiting for him to take it before answering, “After I came back from getting lunch with Gabumon and Haru-san both you and Haru-chan were blushing.”

“After she told me what had happened and I got her to calm down a bit she kissed me…” Takeru told him fighting to keep the blush out of his cheeks but it was a losing battle. Things like this where the only times his masks failed him.

Yamato leaned back against the wall. “Why are you thinking about it so hard? You didn’t even here me when I knocked on the door,” Yamato wondered crossing his arms over his chest.

Takeru looked away for a minute. “Because I’m not quite sure what I think about her,” he answered looking at his brother. “I’ve been focusing on other things lately that I hadn’t even thought of anything related to relationships since I broke up with Hikari…”

Yamato nodded. “And now that she’s kissed you, you’re confused on just how you feel about her?” Yamato asked and Takeru nodded. “Well I can’t tell you how to figure this out... The only thing I can suggest is you wait for a bit before making your choice because rushing your decision may end up leading to the wrong one.”

Takeru looked at his brother trying to figure out what he meant, but he did agree that waiting would probably be the best answer. “Why does this have to be so hard?” Takeru sighed.

“Heh, it’s not as hard as it could be… At least you don’t have to compete with your best friend while still trying to maintain said friendship,” Yamato told him and Takeru had to agree with him on that one. “Any way I suggest you change back into your pajamas before mom gets home or she’ll know you’ve been up to something…” said Yamato as he left the room.

Takeru stood up and went to change back into his pajamas as Yamato had suggested.

:: World of Illusions ::

Patamon and Calilimon had made their way towards one of the mirrors. They really didn’t have that far to go they just had to reach the edge of the forest to get to them and Trace had pointed out a direction that would be closest to the edge of the forest. Once again, so they were moving faster, Patamon rode on top of Calilimon’s head. It took them about an hour in total to reach the edge of the forest and Calilimon landed on the ground walking until she was half way near one of the mirrors. She then picked Patamon off her head and sat him down on the ground. She was about to speak when she felt a familiar energy build up and with a flash of light she evolved to Hantamon. “This happened a lot faster than I expected…” Hantamon stated looking at her hands.

“Will you still be able to get the pieces?” Patamon asked knowing most Digimon changed their attack type the higher they got.

Hantamon looked down at him. “Yes, I still use illusions in this from…” She informed him as she began walking forward. The truth is she didn’t use them as much as she did when she was Calilimon, but her illusions were stronger in this form. When she was only 5 feet away from the mirror she could already hear it calling for her. Music was coming from the one she was approaching. The music seemed to be played on a piano and it was a soft and gentle tune. The music made her think of her brother before this entire mess started knowing full well that was what it wanted.

As if summoned by thought she could hear her brother calling her name along with the music. Glancing back at Patamon proved the little Digimon heard neither the music nor her brother calling for her. _So this is how this thing works…_ she thought to herself. Play music that would make them think of things such as how she thought of her brother and use that against them. She hoped this was the best it could do but she highly doubted it. She stepped in front of it…

…Only to find herself back within the ruins she had lived in within the Digital World. She was no longer Hantamon, but was once again Calilimon. _Where is the center point of this illusion?_ she thought to herself as she walked further into the ruins. She had no doubt she knew what the center point was but she could hope she was wrong. She kept walking following the familiar path to where her and her brother had made their home. When she reached the main room she wasn’t at all surprised to see Tsumon sitting on some leaves munching on some fruit.

“Calilimon your back!” he shouted happily as he stood up.

Calilimon smiled. “Yes, I’m back,” she said softly walking towards him.

“I was beginning to think I was going to have to go get you,” he commented smiling.

Calilimon shook her head. “I’m sorry I took so long,” she told him smiling sadly.

“Calilimon what’s wrong?” he asked tilting his head to the side.

“It just had to be you…” she murmured walking closer to him.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“Tell me my brother since when did you have so much energy?” she asked for she could literally feel energy radiating off him.

He blinked a look of confusion appearing on his face. “What do you mean?” He questioned.

“Hunter’s Passado,” she stated in a flat voice and as her form changed back to Hantamon she took a step forward with one foot, a rapier made out of silver in her right hand that she used to stab into Tsumon’s chest where if he was a human his heart would have been. Tsumon’s eyes widened as his image and that of the ruins began to shatter revealing the mirror that she stood in front the rapier piercing through it. The rapier disappeared as the mirror shattered. She gathered a couple of pieces not sure just how many Rascmon would need. When she had them all in hand she walked back to Patamon saying, “There done.”

Patamon looked up at her. “You’re crying,” he told her.

Hantamon blinked realizing he was right and with her free hand quickly wiped her eyes. “Don’t worry about it…” she told him smiling.

Patamon nodded as he flew up landing on top of her head. “At least you didn’t get trapped,” he commented patting her on the head with his small hand.

“Yes, but it was because I already knew what to expect…” she told him as she began flying back towards the cave.

“How come?” he asked.

“Because my small friend there is only one thing in this world that I want right now and it would be the only thing that it would show me. I highly doubted these mirrors would have been effected catching people like it has if the mirrors showed them nightmares instead of dreams…” she answered.

“Takeru got caught in something like that once,” Patamon told her.

“Really? How did he get out?” she asked never having heard of something like that before.

“One of his friends helped him get out of it,” he answered then looked up at the sky. “I hope he’s okay…”

Hantamon thought a moment before saying to him, “With friends like what he has I’m sure that he’s fine Patamon.”

:: Human World ::

Takeru had managed to keep it hidden from his mother about leaving the house while he was sick. At one point, Takeru had realized that it was easier to hide his second set of adventures into the Digital World then other things which he always found interesting. With the help of one of his energies drinks he had managed to stay up all night. He wouldn’t have had to use it if the last dose of cold medicine before he went to bed hadn’t had something in it to help him sleep. What had surprised him though was when his mother had come in to check his temperature the fever was gone making him wonder if he had truly caught the cold at school because there had been a twenty-four hour flu going around it for the past week.

This was how he found himself in the middle of his math class having to try and stay awake while he took his notes because this teacher had a nasty habit of picking on students who had fallen asleep in his class. _Just my luck…_ he thought to himself sighing as he doodled a picture of Patamon in the margin of his composition notebook while the teacher answered a question for one of the students. He had been a bit surprised to find Kohana was attending figuring her mother would have kept her home. For most of the first classes he had been trying to figure out why Daisuke and Hikari kept looking at him with concern expression, but then he had realized he hadn’t told anyone besides Yamato and Kohana that he believed Patamon was alive.

During lunch break he had spent most of it catching them up on what had happened. Kohana had not joined them and once he was finished Hikari had left to go find her. He would have explained to them what was going on before school had started, but him and Yamato stopped at a store to buy him a new bag and Kohana a phone with money he had borrowed from his mother. He was going to have fun working to pay her back. _I just hope whatever High school I do go to allows part time jobs…_ he thought to himself because he could see spending both winter and summer break working to pay it back. Takeru also had no doubt he knew why Kohana had not joined them for lunch. He had run into her when he was switching his outdoor shoes for his indoor ones and upon spotting him she had turned bright red and quickly headed for class.

 _If she keeps running like that it’s going to complicate things…_ he thought as he colored the upper part of his Patamon drawing before turning his attention back to the chalk board. He had no doubt that by now Hikari probably knew what had happened between him and Kohana and he wasn’t looking forward to it. It wasn’t the fact that he was upset that Kohana had told Hikari it was more of the fact he wasn’t completely sure how she would react to the news. He knew she wouldn’t try to push him into giving Kohana an answer, something he knew Mimi might have done. He wasn’t completely sure if he was comfortable talking about it with anyone, but Yamato and Patamon at the moment even if he did see Hikari like a sister. The only thing he had liked about the day so far was that during physical education he had gotten to play basketball. None of the other Chosen Children really played it mainly focusing on soccer so when he did feel like playing it he didn’t have anyone to play with.

He was glad of two things right now: one was that math was the very last class for them and two his seat was closer to the door so he could stop Kohana from running in order to give her the new phone he had bought her. The one smart thing he had done that day was call Kohan’s mother to find out if they had already gotten it replaced which they hadn’t. When the bell rang signifying the end of the day he quickly put his things into either his desk or bag depending on what class had what. Once he was done he walked into the hallway to wait for Kohana to come out. He was not at all surprised to see her walk out talking to Hikari. “Haru-chan,” he called and both of them turned their attention to him. Takeru quickly walked over to them before Kohana could decide to bolt.

“Yes?” she asked as he approached her cheeks slightly pink.

He dug the cell phone out of his bag which was still in its box minus price tags handing it to her. “Here, yours got fried because you were trying to help me,” he told her.

Kohana took the box looking at it. It was similar to the one she had before being purple in color, but it was a different model then her old one this one being more convenient for a teenager to use then the one her parents had bought her. It also had Japanese apricot blossom print on it which hers didn’t have before. She smiled looking at him. “Thank you Takaishi-kun,” she said happily.

Takeru nodded smiling. “You’re welcome,” he told her.

“I talked to my Dad last night. He wants to talk to you and the others about what’s going on,” Kohana informed him who looked down before continuing. “He told me he knows what the rest of the story line is for the game and he can tell us about the girl character if that will help us at all.”

Takeru nodded. “Yamato’s going to pick me up today so we can get a ride to your apartment if it’s okay to go now,” Takeru said.

Kohana nodded then Hikari spoke, “I’ll go get Daisuke before he leaves and we’ll meet you out front.” The two nodded as Hikari went back into the class room to check if he was still in there.

Kohana and Takeru began walking towards the front of the school. “Did he tell you anything?” He asked.

“No, at least not anything about the game he did tell me he didn’t expect something like this to happen. When Shaitanmon called him for the second time as injured as he was it wasn’t hard for him to figure out that it wasn’t because his sister and he had gotten into another fight. He figured he had gotten into a fight with you guys and knew from meeting Patamon Shaitanmon would have had to start the fight,” she answered.

Takeru nodded then blinked when his felt his cell phone vibrate. Pulling it out he saw that he had gotten a text message and opening it up revealed it was from Hikari. She had told her brother and Koushirou about what was going on and the two of them were going to meet them there. She said that anyone else probably wouldn’t fit inside Kohana’s apartment. He showed Kohana the text message.

“It’ll be easier that way Taichi can explain what your father says to the others,” Takeru said putting his cell phone back up as Kohana nodded. When they reached the front of the school it wasn’t hard to find Yamato’s truck and Takeru quickly walked over to it explaining to his brother what was going on.

“Maybe we’ll finally get some answers…” Yamato said as he unlocked the passenger’s side. Takeru slid the passenger’s seat forward climbing into the back seat then helped Kohana climb in as well. They didn’t have to wait long for Hikari and Daisuke to show up with V-mon and Tailmon. The two Digimon climbed into the back with Gabumon while Hikari climbed into the back seat. Then with Yamato’s help Daisuke got the seat back in place and climbed in closing the door behind him.

Yamato pulled out into the road driving to Kohana’s. “Taichi said it might take him and Koushirou a bit before they get there because they’ve never been to Kohana’s apartment,” Hikari told them as she read a text message off her cell phone.

“Maybe I should have gone back to the school and had him follow me in his car…” Yamato said then shrugged knowing it would be to late by the time he reached their High School. It didn’t take long to reach the apartment complex and Yamato pulled into the parking lot finding a parking spot. Once the truck had been turned off they all climbed out of it. Kohana then lead them all to the elevator hitting the button for her floor.

When they reached it they walked passed a few doors until they reached her apartment. She turned the door knob knowing both parents were home. “Mom, Dad, I’m home and I brought some of my friends,” she called as she walked inside slipping her shoes off and replacing them with slippers. She then found slippers for everyone else before going further in.

“Welcome back, Kohana,” her mother told her as they walked into the living room.

The door of the office was opened and her father walked out. He was only a couple of years older than her mom his hair being black and his eyes brown. He was the typical height of a Japanese man and he wore a white button up shirt and jeans. Her father’s name was Kyo. “Welcome home, Kohana,” he said smiling slightly.

Kohana then proceeded to introduce Daisuke, Yamato, Gabumon and V-mon since her mother had only meet Yamato and Gabumon while both parents had meet Takeru and Hikari as well as their Digimon. “It’s nice to meet you,” her father said stepping out of the door way of the office. “I’ll explain things the best I can,” he told them.

Takeru and the others walked into the office though Kohana paused at the door turning towards her mother. “Momma two more people and Digimon will be showing up,” she told her.

Her mother nodded. “I’ll bring them to the office when they arrive,” she said smiling. Kohana closed the door behind her standing off to the side so the door could be opened when Taichi and the others showed up.

Kyo looked at Takeru thinking for a moment before he spoke. “When I first met you I remember thinking you did look a lot like the character from the game though you were older than him. I’m sorry that Shaitanmon is targeting you because of this,” he said as he walked over to the computer sitting down in the seat.

“We were hoping you could explain this to us better. Kohana told us what she knew about the game, but it wasn’t much,” Takeru told him.

“Yes, she told me what she’s told you and what Shaitanmon told her,” he said and was about to say more when there was a knock at the door and Kohana opened it letting Taichi and Koushirou in followed by Agumon and Tentomon. Kohana introduced them as well to her father.

Kyo then proceeded to speak, “When I first meet him I did help him like he told Kohana, but that was only because he appeared to be sorry for what he had done to his sister. Then, he called me the second time before he had called Kohana. I had heard reports on the news before he had called me about how Digimon had been fighting and it wasn’t hard to figure out he had fought with you guys so I refused to help him. If I had known what he was going to do to Kohana though I would have agreed.” He looked at his daughter with an apologetic expression on his face.

“Do you know why he would have attacked his sister in the first place?” Koushirou asked hoping it might help.

“I can only guess… Originally the lead character was the little boy there was no sister. It was going to be that the boy went in search of the young man who had protected him and he looked up to him like an older brother. Those in charge believed if we made the character that young people would believe the targeted audience was young children, but it was a game designed for teenagers. When they told that to my friend Taka who was in charge of the storyline he added the younger sister who was then made the main character. It was also believed to be a better decision because it made more sense as to why the young man would suddenly start attacking the boy. Basically she ended up being something to balance her older brother,” he explained.

“Did you talk to her at all when you healed them?” Taichi asked.

Kohana’s father shook his head. “No, she was out of it the entire time I was there which wasn’t much because I had to come back and write more code for the game to heal them and before you ask no I don’t know how that helped Yaumon as he was called then he said it would,” he told them.

“Is your belief that his sister is basically a balance to him now?” Koushirou asked.

“Yes, he told me he remembered he had been trying to do something she didn’t like; I’m guessing it was one of the first times he tried attacking you Takaishi-kun. She had tried to stop him from doing so, but it didn’t seem to work and I can guess why,” he answered turning around and grabbing a note book that had obviously been read several times by how worn it was. “This is the original story line for the game after adding the sister in of course. Throughout the game the player would build the sister up as well as the little boy though he doesn’t seem that important of a person except your suppose to keep him alive throughout the game. When the sister finally finds her brother the first thing he does is attack the boy which she reflects the attack. At first the brother doesn’t understand why she’s still protecting the boy and keeps attempting to kill him while the sister defends. After awhile the brother believes the sister has betrayed him and starts focusing his attention on her. He proves stronger then the sister no matter how much the player leveled her up as he was design to always be more powerful than her,” he explained to them.

“Then how is the player suppose to win the game,” Yamato asked though he had a suspicious feeling he already knew the answer.

“Just when the player gets a game over as the sister because she gets wounded not killed the little boy steps up. The sister tries to call him back, but can’t so instead she gives all her magic to the boy who can wield it better then the sister ever could and the boy wins,” Kyo answered looking at Takeru.

“But that would have to fall to Patamon because I can’t fight. Not to mention I haven’t been able to find Patamon since his tried fighting Shaitanmon before,” Takeru told him.

“How would it work any ways Patamon isn’t part of the original game,” Daisuke pointed out.

“I’m guessing here, but both Shaitanmon and his sister have the game in their coding or my continuing the game wouldn’t have done anything for them. Most likely the coding that pertains to the boy’s part in the game is hidden in his sister,” Kyo answered.

“To transfer something like that wouldn’t be easy,” Agumon said and the other Digimon nodded in agreement.

“Copying data is one thing like how my tail ring was copied, but we’ve all seen that a copy isn’t as strong as the original,” Tailmon said

“Though it is possible to transfer power like Agumon and I did as Omegamon to Imperialdramon to change him into Paladin Mode…” Gabumon offered.

“But that was only power it wasn’t code like he’s talking about,” V-mon reminded them.

“What happened to the brother at the end of the game?” Takeru asked glancing at Kohana for a minute before turning his attention to her father.

“Take a look,” he said handing him the notebook.

Takeru took it and flipped through the pages until he found the end of the story line. He then proceeded to read the last page that was written. “There are two different endings,” he said looking up.

“Yes, one were the brother is killed due to choices the player made through the game and one were the brother is saved also due to choices the player made through the game,” he explained.

“What kind of choices?” Kohana asked.

Her father thought for a moment before he answered. “It was based on conversations the sister had with the little boy. During random points of the game the boy would ask the sister what she thought about what was happening around them because of things her brother had been doing. The player can pick how to respond to these questions. Basically the boy wondered if the sister still loved her brother or not and if she could forgive him for what he has done. In truth it’s not really the boy that ends up killing the brother in that ending, but the feelings in the magic that the boy received from the sister. If she couldn’t forgive him then he wouldn’t survive the attack. What you have to remember is it’s only Shaitanmon and his sister that have to play by the rules of the game. Patamon isn’t part of the game as you have stated Daisuke-kun. There is no telling how this battle will end.”

“What would happen to them if you deleted the gaming code that is already written? I mean writing it helped heal them so wouldn’t erasing it do the opposite?” Yamato asked.

“No I tried that before I came back home. The problem is I’m not the only one who has copies of the game. It was leaked out at some point when it was dropped so too many copies exist in the world to try and find them all,” Kyo answered

“So the only way to end this is to find Patamon and Shaitanmon’s sister,” Takeru said and the others nodded.

“Or we’ll have to wait until Patamon finds us. From what I understand Takeru you’ve covered everything in trying to find him,” Yamato told him and Takeru nodded.

“So until then we’re going to have to make sure to keep Takeru safe… It shouldn’t be too hard we almost won the last time and this time we won’t have to pull back!” Hikari said cheerfully.

Taichi nodded. “Yes we did, but we don’t know how much Patamon’s battle with Shaitanmon factors into that. It didn’t look like Shaitanmon was damaged by it but…” He said shrugging all of them knowing full well a Digimon didn’t always have to show just how much they were damaged during a battle.

:: World of Illusions ::

Hantamon landed outside of the cave Trace and Rascmon were in. Due to evolving it took her less time to fly from the mirrors to the cave. Instead of calling out this time she just walked in. Trace was sitting with his back against the cave wall munching on some fruit. By the way he was humming between bites and his headphones were on his ears Hantamon guessed he was listening to music. Rascmon who was lying beside him lifted his head up and looked at them before tapping Trace with his paw. Trace pulled the headphones down turning his attention to the two Digimon. “Everything go alright?” He asked

“Yes!” Patamon said happily as he flew over to Rascmon landing next to him. Rascmon looked Patamon over just in case making sure he had no injuries.

Hantamon walked over to Rascmon setting the pieces of the mirror down in front of him. “How exactly are you going to get some of my data to fix my mirror?” she asked not really surprised that they didn’t seemed shock that she had evolved. Most likely after she had done so the mirror had changed its appearance slightly.

Trace finished his fruit then stood up taking a few steps forward until he faced Hantamon. “Well since we just need data nothing specific it’s pretty easy,” he said smiling innocently which made Hantamon’s eyes narrow slightly. An innocent smile did not really fit him in her opinion. Trace reached up running his hands over one of her wings and before she could react he plucked a few feathers out of it causing her to pull away from him. “See pretty simple,” he said laughing because Hantamon was now glaring at him.

“A warning would have been nice,” she told him and he just shrugged as he sat down next to Rascmon pulling the mirror out of his pocket. He sat the mirror down in front of Rascmon placing the feathers on top of it. Trace then carefully picked up the mirror shards placing them on top of the feathers. Rascmon sat up moving to were the mirror was once again between his paws. Carefully he touched his noise to it once again closing his eyes as he concentrated.

Patamon and Hantamon watched as Trace took a few steps back turning his back because he knew what was coming since he had seen his sister do this several times. Right as Trace turned around there was a blinding flash of light. When Patamon and Hantamon were able to see again they were happy to see the mirror had in fact been repaired, but instead of the much larger Rascmon there was now a smaller Digimon. It was around the size of Patamon and looked very much like a puppy with its big floppy dog ears and large paws that he would have to grow into. It was obviously Rascmon devolved, but instead of flames now he was covered in everyday fur which was quite thick and fluffy and he was almost completely black due to his markings having not come in yet. Like most small Digimon his golden eyes were quite large.

Trace moved forward kneeling as he patted the Digimon on the head. “You didn’t tell me you’d devolve, Tamon,” he said.

Tamon looked at him. “I’ve never done something quite like this so how was I suppose to know?” he asked his voice sounding very much like a little kids.

“You have a point… You’ve only repaired things that I have broken nothing that was digital,” Trace said before picking the mirror up and examining it.

“So is it fixed?” Patamon asked as Trace handed it over to Hantamon.

“Yes, it’s fixed,” he answered a slight smile on his face.

Patamon looked at Hantamon. “Can we get back now?” he asked hoping the answer was yes.

Hantamon held the mirror in both hands as she looked down onto its surface. “Gates of Stars,” she whispered and the mirror glowed for a moment. Hantamon kept starring at it and when Tokyo Tower appeared in its surface and the silver outline of the mirror turned golden she smiled. “Yes, we can get back now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- And that’s that. Please be kind and leave a review in any shape or form *hearts* As you can see I’m not the type of author that believes in falling in love right off the bat in a story… I actually hate stories like that when there is so little time that the two characters have known each other like in Kohana and Takeru’s case. It annoys me even more when an OC almost automatically gets the character they like… Life isn’t that simple so why should my stories be? xD


	12. Chapter Twelve Home Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

“ _So is it fixed?” Patamon asked as Trace handed it over to Hantamon._

“ _Yes, it’s fixed,” he answered._

_Patamon looked at Hantamon. “Can we get back now?” he asked hoping the answer was yes._

_Hantamon held the mirror in both hands as she looked down onto its surface. “Gates of Stars,” she whispered and the mirror glowed for a moment. Hantamon kept starring at it and when Tokyo Tower appeared in its surface and the silver outline of the mirror turned golden she smiled. “Yes, we can get back now.”_

They had talked a bit more before they decided to go ahead and leave for there was nothing more they could really learn here. Hikari had decided to stay the night for awhile to make sure Kohana wouldn’t be targeted by Shaitanmon again. After they had dropped Daisuke off at his apartment complex they had driven to a store to pick some things up because Yamato and Takeru had decided to surprise their mother by making something so she wouldn’t have to cook when she got home. They had decided to do nabe (hot pot dish) so Takeru now stood in the kitchen cutting meats and vegetables while Yamato worked on the soup base. As for Gabumon he got to set up the kotatsu in the living room because he really couldn’t sit at the table easily and this particular dish required it.

By the time their mother had gotten home they had everything set up including the side dishes. Having dinner like this made Takeru miss Patamon even more and by the time he retired to his room to work on his homework he was a bit depressed. “Patamon I hope you’re alright…” He whispered as he began to work on translating English words into Japanese for his class.

:: World of Illusions ::

“Really?” Patamon asked and when Hantamon nodded her head he cheered causing Hantamon to smile.

Hantamon turned her attention to Trace. “You and Tamon will need help getting to the human world as well right?”

“Yes, hopefully once I’m there I’ll be able to contact my sister,” Trace answered and when he did find her he was going to have a ton of questions to ask her though he had a feeling she wouldn’t answer them.

Hantamon nodded then turned her attention to Patamon. “Patamon come here,” she said and Patamon flew over to her. She let the mirror float from her hands and a few feet from her. There the image seemed to grow until it was large enough to walk through. “Trace and Tamon should go through first,” she said and Trace picked Tamon up before walking up to the image. Then he walked into it disappearing. “Patamon you go next.”

Patamon didn’t need to be told twice and he quickly flew through the image only to find himself flying above Tokyo Tower’s observation deck. He glanced around for Trace and found him on top of the observation deck. _How did he get there?_ Patamon wondered because he had to be at least twenty feet above it. He looked behind him and could see an image of Hantamon inside the cave walking towards the mirror. He flew forward a bit as she came through so she didn’t crash into him as she did. The image began to shrink and her mirror reappeared floating towards her. She took hold of it and tied it onto her belt then flew down to where Trace was standing Patamon following her.

Trace was holding a black cell phone next to his ear Tamon hanging over his other arm. “So you did know I was trapped there!” he suddenly shouted causing both Hantamon and Patamon to look at him a bit wide eyed. “Yes, I understand why you left me there, but it would have been nice if you had told me,” he said narrowing his eyes. “What do you mean you were forbidden to?” he asked looking up at the sky as he did. He only knew one person that could stop his sister from helping him and if she was involved things where worse off then he first figured. “Why the hell did she get involved into this? Last thing I knew she was still busy with Lee!” he shouted.

Patamon continued to watch him slightly surprised he was unable to hear what the other person was saying. Normally he didn’t have any trouble hearing the other person on the phone. It made him wonder how they were blocking him from being able to hear and just why they were doing it. “Yes, yes, I understand I’ll get it back on my own then! Thank you so much sister for all the help you’ve been!” he shouted slamming the phone shut as he stuffed it into his pocket. He knew he shouldn’t take his anger out on Luna for it really wasn’t her fault, but he really couldn’t help it. Already feeling guilty for yelling at her like that he had decided to apologize for it the next time they saw each other. That is if he saw her sometime soon when it would make sense to actually apologize to her. He had no clue how long he was going to be stuck here and if Luna was being told not to help then there was no telling when he would actually see her again.

“Is something wrong?” Patamon asked

Trace looked at him. “Just that I learned I’m on my own for now because my older sister is preventing Luna from helping me,” he answered pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why she’s intervening I have no clue.”

“Does your older sister not like you?” Hantamon asked

Trace shook his head. “No it isn’t that. I may upset her at times, but that’s about it. All I can figure is she knows something and she isn’t sharing it with me for some reason,” he answered. This was going to make things harder on him. He had hoped to get Luna’s help in retrieving his stolen property, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. He had hoped to get it before Patamon fought Shaitanmon, but now it seemed he was going have to get it either during the battle or afterwords. “Any way shouldn’t you go find your human partner?” he asked looking at Patamon.

“Yes!” Patamon shouted and he would have taken off but he was worried about Trace now that his sister wasn’t going to be able to help him. “Will you be alright?” he asked.

“Yes, if Hantamon can give me a lift down that is,” he said looking at her. Hantamon nodded as she walked over to him gently wrapping her arms around his waist. She flew up and down heading for an ally way Patamon following behind them. Once in the ally way Hantamon landed letting go of Trace.

“Thanks,” he said as he walked out of the ally way waving over his shoulder at the two Digimon. He had no doubt that Patamon would be able to find his own way home with how long the little Digimon had lived in the human world so for now he needed to get some place where he could sit and think without interruption so he could plan out his next move.

Patamon landed on top of Hantamon’s head looking down at her. “Maybe you should come with me?” he asked knowing she had no place to go to at the moment. He knew Takeru wouldn’t really mind having another Digimon around and Natsuko might actually like having a female Digimon around for once.

“That would probably be best. You do know how to get home don’t you?” she asked and Patamon nodded.

“Yes! Just follow me,” he told her and took off flying in the direction Takeru’s apartment complex was at. He flew higher then he normally did to help keep Hantamon out of a sight because a Digimon her size had a tendency of causing panic even if she was an angelic Digimon. He didn’t want to cause trouble for the others after just getting back. It took him longer then he would have liked for one thing Patamon was not a very fast flyer he probably would have gotten there in half the time if Hantamon could have flown them or if he had evolved into Angemon, but one large Digimon wouldn’t cause as much as a panic as two large ones so he avoided it even though he wanted to get back home very badly.

-X-

Takeru sat in the living room on the couch next to Natsuko as she changed the bandages on his hands. During his translation homework he came across the English word for bandage and remembered the ones on his hands had yet to be changed that day. He had also changed out of his uniform into his everyday cloths wearing a white t-shirt with regular jean pants. As Natsuko changed the bandages her oldest son walked over. “Takeru after your hands are changed to you want to make a quick run to the store to get some ice cream?” he asked.

Takeru looked at his older brother. “Yes,” he answered wondering why his brother hadn’t gotten any when they had gone shopping earlier. Of course there was a store close enough to walk to that Miyako’s family owned so it didn’t really matter to him, but it just didn’t really make much since for them to get it now when they had just been to the store not that long ago.

“There finished,” his mom said as she tied off the bandage on his left hand. “Make sure you bring some back for me as well,” she told them as Takeru stood up to grab his jacket Yamato and Gabumon already waiting over by the door.

“Don’t worry we will,” Takeru said as he glanced back at his mother smiling. Once Takeru had both his jacket and boots on he followed his brother and Gabumon out of the door. The three of them walked over to the stairs heading down them not seeing any reason to wait for the elevator. It took them about ten minutes to reach the nearby store. Yamato and Gabumon entered first and Takeru was about to enter when he heard something.

“Devil’s Descent!” Shaitanmon shouted, who literally just appeared out of nowhere firing the attack at Takeru. Takeru having heard the shout tried his best to avoid the attack.

Yamato who also heard the attack being announced turned around and ran for the door Gabumon at his heels. Right when he reached the door the attack hit the explosion causing the glass to shatter and both Yamato and Gabumon went flying back a few feet into one of the stores shelves behind them. Yamato winced when he hit the shelf but he quickly stood up running for the door again. “Takeru!” He shouted as he ran Gabumon once again on his heels.

Takeru coughed cement dust floating all over the place making it hard to see. The only thing he knew for certain at the moment was he was laying flat on his back which ached from the impact of landing on it and that his left leg also hurt though he couldn’t see good enough at the moment to know how bad it was. As he sat up Takeru’s eyes watered from all the dust floating around. He covered his mouth with his sleeve so it was easier to breath.

Gabumon who could see Shaitanmon floating just above the dust trying to locate Takeru leaped through the broken store front at Shaitanmon evolving into Metal Garurumon in the process. Metal Garurumon barreled into him sending both of them away from the store. “Stay away from him!” Metal Garurumon shouted at him growling deep in his throat.

“Tch! Just when I thought he was by himself,” Shaitanmon said as he pushed Metal Garurumon away from him though the dog Digimon didn’t move very far before he stopped himself. Sometimes being large, covered in heavy metal and having several boosters throughout your body had its advantages.

“Takeru where are you?” Yamato shouted as he got outside of the store covering his mouth the best he could from the dust.

“I’m over here Yamato!” Takeru shouted as the dust finally began to settle. He could see Yamato running towards him. When he could see his older brother clearly he saw several cuts on his face and hands. His cloths had protected the rest of his body from being cut from the glass.

Yamato ran over to him kneeling beside him as he looked his little brother over. Like him he had small cuts on his face, but the biggest injury was to his leg. The pant leg had ripped and he could see where the jeans were already getting darker in color from blood. He grabbed hold of either side of the rip pulling to make the rip larger so he could see the injury. On Takeru’s calf was a cut that would probably require a couple of stitches. Yamato removed his scarf and began winding it around Takeru’s leg. “This is going to hurt,” he warned as he pulled as tight as he could on the scarf causing Takeru to cry out in pain as Yamato bound the scarf as tight as he could to stop the bleeding. Takeru’s eyes watered slightly as Yamato finished tying the scarf off.

Shaitanmon flew towards the two brothers to attack again only to have Metal Garurumon fly in front of him. “Garuru Tomahawk!” Metal Garurumon shouted firing a missile from his chest as soon as he intercepted Shaitanmon. The attack hit Shaitanmon sending him flying back. Metal Garurumon stayed where he was at afraid to leave the two Chosen Children defenseless by flying after him. Shaitanmon had the bad habit of appearing out of nowhere to attack and he feared if he moved to far he would appear behind him to attack Takeru and Yamato.

Shaitanmon using the sky scrapers of Odaiba to his advantage was able to sneak up on Metal Garurumon even with him being as cautious as he was. The skyscrapers messed with Metal Garurumon’s scanners to where it was hard to track the devil-like Digimon which is how he was able to get so close without Metal Garurumon figuring it out. “Game Over!” He shouted capturing the large Digimon in his black chains. Instantly Metal Garurumon began struggling trying to get free. If he could make the chains slip ever so slightly he could move them off the openings where the missiles were stored in his body and then destroy the chains even if it meant damaging himself. He would heal a lot faster then two teenage humans would.

“Yamato we have to move now!” Takeru said and his brother turned his attention to the battle his eyes widening when he saw Metal Garurumon had gotten caught. He then went to help his brother to stand up.

“I’ll get you later metal dog…” Shaitanmon threatened before flying to attack Takeru again.

Yamato helped Takeru stand up his younger brother leaning heavily on him one of his arms around Takeru’s waist while Takeru had one of his over Yamato’s shoulders. The two brothers moved as fast as they could trying to reach an ally way Shaitanmon wouldn’t be able to fit through.

“Devil’s Descent!” Shaitanmon shouted attacking the two before they could reach it. However before the attack could get very far away from Shaitanmon a large orb of light collided with his attack causing a huge explosion that sent Shaitanmon flying back into one of the skyscrapers. Seraphimon descended from higher up in the sky next to Metal Garurumon. “Excalibur!” he shouted shattering the chains that held Metal Garurumon with the purple energy sword.

“Yamato look!” Takeru shouted forcing his brother to turn around as he pointed at Seraphimon. “Seraphimon!” Takeru shouted happily waving up at the angelic Digimon with his free arm. If his leg wasn’t hurt he would also be jumping up and down at the moment with how happy he was to see that Seraphimon really was alright and alive.

Seraphimon glanced down at Takeru smiling behind his helmet glad to see his friend once again. “I’m glad your back,” Metal Garurumon said shaking slightly to get the chains completely off him. The chains had a feeling of wrongness to them making it to where he didn’t want any of what was left touching him.

Seraphimon turned his attention to Metal Garurumon still smiling behind the helmet. “Thank you, I am just glad I got here in time,” he told him glancing at Shaitanmon his smile faltering. If he wasn’t wearing the helmet Shaitanmon would have flinched from the glare the angelic Digimon was giving him.

Shaitanmon pushed away from the skyscraper and when he saw Seraphimon he screamed at the top of his lungs then shouted at them, “How the hell are _you_ here? I thought I erased you already!”

Another Digimon flew up beside Seraphimon who at one point was Hantamon, but she had evolved to her Ultimate form upon getting so close to her brother who was already in his. Her hair was now long enough to reach her knees and the hair that naturally fell over the front of her shoulder had been wrapped from shoulder height to waist in lavender ribbons while the rest had been left alone. She had 8 angelic wings instead of six and unlike Seraphimon she had no helmet to cover her face showing that her eyes were now an amethyst color instead of the lavender they had been for so long and had white markings that looked like eye liner around them. The angelic Digimon was also the same height as Seraphimon. She wore silver plate armor over her chest and stomach that had feathers engraved onto it with gold leaf. On her arms she also wore silver plate armor that left her shoulders bare having gold scrolls engraved into it. Around her waist was a golden belt that a silver horn was tied to it resting against her right hip while her mirror which was now the size of a dinner plate was also tied to her belt resting against her left hip. She wore a long cloth white skirt that was split on the right side. Over the skirt worn in the same fashion as the skirt was silver chain mail. Unlike previous stages she was no longer barefoot having similar plate amour she had on her arms on her legs stopping mid thigh.

“I dare you to take a guess,” she said her eyes narrowing.

Shaitanmon turned and looked at her. “Yumimon…” he said as he stared at her. “Why did you save him?” he asked.

“Because what you’re doing to them is wrong, Shaitanmon they have done nothing to you!” she shouted now glaring at him. “Are you even my brother anymore?” she asked him as an afterthought because something about him seemed even more off then the last time she had seen him.

Shaitanmon laughed then began signing:

_I’ve got a lock_

_A little lock on my mind_

_Rusted open the Key long gone_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

“That song… He keeps singing it every time he appears…” Takeru told Yamato as they watched what was going on. Something about the song always made his skin crawl.

Yumimon’s eyes widened. “You’re not my brother are you?” She asked, but Shaitanmon kept singing as if he never heard her:

_Fighting a losing battle_

_Falling down a long dark tunnel_

_And the one at the end?_

_They’ll be Red_

_Oh sweet Lavender is gone_

_Oh sweet Lavender is gone_

“Shut up!” Yumimon shouted and flew at Shaitanmon.

“Yumimon wait!” Seraphimon shouted flying after her.

Yumimon ignored him a silver bow appearing in her hands along with a crystal arrow. “Redemptions’ Arrow!” She shouted firing the arrow at her brother.

Shaitanmon grinned allowing the arrow to hit him in the chest. When the arrow hit a flash of light happened and when it disappeared Shaitanmon’s eyes were closed the arrow still in his chest. Yumimon moved to approach him, but his eyes opened and he ripped the arrow out causing him to bleed his fake blood. Suddenly the black Digivice appeared and the wound in his chest was completely healed. “It won’t work anymore Yumimon,” he said his voice soft as he looked at them and his eyes for the moment were lavender. He then began singing again:

_I’ve got a lock_

_A little lock on my mind_

_Rusted open the Key long gone_

_Oh sweet End come for me_

_Oh sweet End save sweet Lavender_

_For the Key no longer can_

He then cried out in pain closing his eyes tightly and when he opened them back up they were red once more but it was obvious he was in some type of pain. “Tch!” He said as he looked at Yumimon then Seraphimon and finally Metal Garurumon. “I’ll come back later when Lavender is back asleep!” He shouted and opened a portal disappearing into it.

Seraphimon watched him go then turned his attention to Yumimon who appeared to be crying though her back was to him. “Yumimon?” he asked

She quickly wiped her face before looking at him. “He just told me I can’t save him anymore…” she told him.

“What do you mean?” Seraphimon asked.

“That song he was singing he said oh sweet End save sweet Lavender for the Key no longer can and I’m the key,” she told him.

“How do you know he isn’t lying to you?” Seraphimon asked.

“Because his eyes were lavender when he said it and that meant he was back to his old self,” she explained then smiled softly. “Any way now that he’s gone shouldn’t you go see Takeru-kun?” she asked.

Seraphimon nodded turning his attention to Takeru as he began to descend devolving back to Patamon. “Takeru!” he cried happily flying straight into Takeru’s chest almost causing both Takeru and Yamato to lose their balance.

Takeru laughed happily as he hugged Patamon tightly leaning against his brother to keep from falling over. “Patamon! I’m glad that you’re alright!” He shouted happily.

Patamon looked up at Takeru and grinned. “Of course I am I had a guardian angel!” he said happily.

Takeru blinked a look of confusion on his face as he said the only thing that came to mind, “Huh?”

Patamon pointed at Yumimon who had landed a ways away from them. “She’s my guardian angel if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be alive,” he explained.

Metal Garurumon landed near Yamato and Takeru. “Yamato were you able to hear the entire conversation?” Metal Garurumon asked wondering if they had heard the part where Yumimon had called Shaitanmon her brother. He hadn’t devolved because he could guess where they were stopping at next with the way Takeru had been hurt. He was a much easier transportation then Seraphimon was when someone was injured.

“Yes, it wasn’t hard to hear what was said,” Yamato answered as he helped Takeru walk over to Yumimon.

“Thank you for saving Patamon,” Takeru told her.

Yumimon looked at him and smiled saying, “I’m glad I was able to help him.”

“Are you really Shaitanmon’s sister?” Yamato asked

“Yes, though I’m not sure if whatever is in control is my brother now,” She answered truthfully.

“What do you mean?” Takeru asked.

Yumimon thought for a moment before answering, “It’s almost like he has a split personality. As long as his eyes are lavender he’s his kind gentle self, but when they turned red he’s that psychotic Digimon you know… The eye changing thing didn’t even start until after he evolved to his Adult stage for the first time. I was able to stop him then but when it happened the second time he got away from me.”

They heard the sounds of sirens approaching and Yamato grimaced. “Come one we better get out of here and take Takeru to the hospital,” Yamato told them. It wasn’t that smart of an idea leaving like this after what had happened, but as long as the camera’s had survived in the store the police would be able to figure out what had happened. He just didn’t want to get involved with the police at the moment because of all the questions they would be asking. Right now he was more worried about his brother than anything else.

“This time you get to explain it to her,” Takeru said as Yumimon helped him up onto Metal Garurumon’s back.

“What a sweet little brother you are,” Yamato said sarcastically as he climbed up behind Takeru before turning his attention to Yumimon. “Is there any chance you can devolve to your child stage?”

“As long as I approach Shaitanmon in that form I’ll end up evolving back to this form so yes…” She answered before devolving to Calilimon.

Yamato nodded then waited as Patamon settled in front of Takeru before having Metal Garurumon take off Calilimon following them. Under normal circumstances he would have had Patamon take Calilimon back to the apartment because she had no partner to follow around to keep people from getting nervous. This however was not normal circumstance and he would not be the one that separated Patamon from Takeru so soon after they had just meet up.

While they waited at the hospital for them to finish treating Takeru’s leg Yamato phoned his mother about what was going on. He was slightly shocked she hadn’t started shouting at him, but he believed he had to thank Patamon for returning when he did to keep her from shouting. He then filled Patamon and Calilimon on what had happened since Patamon had vanished. Half way through telling them Natsuko had shown up causing him to speak softer because she only knew half of it and he didn’t want to give her a reason to start shouting if he didn’t have to. He also believed it wasn’t his place to explain everything that had happened leaving it to his little brother to do so when he believed the time was right. He had told his mother on the phone earlier it would probably be best if she came in Yamato’s truck due to all the Digimon they had with them he doubted everyone would fit into his mother’s car.

“My brother really got a Chosen Child of his own?” She asked a bit shocked.

Yamato nodded. “Yes, she’s not too happy about it, but maybe if she has a chance to talk to you she won’t be so upset about it,” Yamato explained.

Calilimon nodded saying, “I’d like to meet her and who knows maybe I have a Chosen Child as well.” The idea made her smile because maybe if she did she would be able to help her brother. Yamato had told her about what Kohana’s Father had said, but she was kind of hoping she could fix it herself instead of having to put the responsibility onto Patamon. Not to mention they had been right she didn’t know what part of her code Patamon would need.

While he watched over the Digimon and his Mother went to talk to the doctor in charge of Takeru he sent a text message to everyone to explain to them what had happened tonight and that they had found Shaitanmon’s sister, Calilimon. He also sent one specifically to Miyako to apologize about what had happened at her parents store. It didn’t take long before he had several text messages from different Chosen Children asking him questions. He answered them the best he could the main ones asking questions being Hikari who was asking them for Kohana, Taichi who wanted to know if they now stood a chance against Shaitanmon and Sora who was wondering how Yamato was doing after everything that had happened which made Yamato smile softly.

The text messages were a nice distraction because he was tired of answering random people who were asking him about the Digimon especially since he had three near him one who was sitting on top of his head about ready to fall asleep, another sitting beside him watching as people walked by and the other sitting at his feet because his tail made it impossible to sit in a chair that was against the wall. As long as he looked busy with his phone no one was willing to be rude enough to ask questions. It also made it to where he didn’t have to see the looks people were giving him because of the Digimon. Not that he really cared, but he did get tired of it after awhile.

When Patamon shifted to an almost standing position on his head Yamato closed the cell phone glancing up to see his mother and Takeru walking towards him. Takeru’s pant leg had been cut off at his knee so the doctor would have easier access to his leg while the calf was wrapped in a white bandage. The fact that he didn’t have any crutches, and was only limping slightly meant it couldn’t have been too bad of an injury. Yamato stood up as Patamon flew over to Takeru landing on his mother’s shoulder instead of Takeru’s afraid his added weight wouldn’t help him.

As Natsuko and Takeru walked over to Yamato she dug into her pocket pulling the key’s out for his truck handing them to him. “Are they going to report this?” Yamato asked his mother as all three of them walked to the parking lot.

“They have to Yamato with the damage done to the store… To think Digimon attacks are now covered by insurance,” she said shaking her head.

“This isn’t going to help Taichi’s case at all,” Takeru said with a sigh as he picked the small Digimon off his mom’s shoulder not really caring if his weight did make his leg hurt worse he was to happy he was back to care.

“No matter what those people at the UN are going to find something wrong with Digimon whether they believe them to be a threat to security or if it’s just them believing their a bad influence on kids,” his mother told him.

“Heh, they can try, but I have never heard of a child becoming evil because of a Digimon it’s usually the other way around and even then it doesn’t always happen,” Yamato stated thinking of how Wormmon had never really became evil when Ken was the Digimon Kaiser.

“That’s only because Digimon like Patamon usually end up with children that would be young enough to pick up the Digimon’s personality or to be influenced by them,” She reminded him as she patted the small Digimon on the head smiling.

“Wait a minute, are you saying Patamon influenced me?” Takeru asked sarcastically knowing very well that Patamon had influenced him when he was younger. His mother and Yamato just laughed instead of answering the question.

Calilimon walked a few feet behind the five of them watching how they interacted with one another. She had never really seen a human and Digimon relationship this close before always watching the Chosen Children from a distance when they came to the Digital World. _It will be nice if I get a human partner of my own,_ she thought happily to herself knowing the chances are high because her brother had gotten one. She and Tsumon had often talked about what it would be like to get a human partner of their own, but the two siblings had never really thought it would happen mainly because of the fact the two of them couldn’t be separated for very long without chancing death. Short amount of times where fine like when one of them went looking for food, but a more permanent separation like now as bad. Calilimon was confused as to why nothing was happening to the two of them, but she pushed the thoughts aside for now focusing on her brother and Kohana. _Now that he has one she’s probably too scared to go anywhere near him_ she thought sadly. She really did hope that this girl called Kohana would get a chance to be her brother’s partner she didn’t want this to have to end with him being killed, but if she had to, to keep these children safe then she would somehow even if it did mean her own death.

When they reached Yamato’s truck he unlocked the doors and helped both his brother and mother climb in while Patamon sat on the back seat wishing he could help. Sometimes being as small as he was, wasn’t all that great. Then again if he was bigger than he was now he would have to fly or walk to places on his own instead of getting rides on top of people’s heads. Once Yamato was certain they were in and settled he waited for Gabumon and Calilimon to climb into the back of the truck before he got into the driver’s side and started the truck up.

-X-

Trace sat in the park an ice cream cone in his hand so Tamon, who was sitting in his lap, could eat it without knocking it onto the ground. “Aren’t my sister’s just so fucking nice Tamon? Because Shaitanmon has my key I’m stuck in the human world and neither one of them are coming to get me anytime soon,” he grumbled as he looked up at the sky.

Tamon stopped licking the ice cream for a moment so he could look up at Trace. “I’m betting Krista is holding Luna back she wouldn’t leave you here stranded for any other reason,” he told him then went back to the ice cream cone.

“Yes and Krista’s probably pissed because I got the key stolen in the first place… How was I supposed to know he could use illusions like his sister?” he asked sighing.

“If you would have stayed put like you were told to this wouldn’t have happened at all,” A female voice said and Trace turned to look at the voice’s owner.

“Oi, Luna I thought you weren’t supposes to help me?” He pointed out as a young woman the same age as him walked over and sat down on the bench beside him. Her hair was black just like her brothers reaching the back of her knees, but unlike her brother her hair wasn’t straight but was curly the sides having been pulled back into a knotted bun. Her hair had purple highlights throughout it instead of electric blue and her bangs were chin length but brushed to the sides so they wouldn’t cover her eyes. Her left eye was emerald green while her right one was ocean blue. She wore a black shirt with bell sleeves and a short black skirt with a red cloth belt tied at her right hip a black pouch attached to the belt rested against her left hip. Her shoes were black boots that went up to her knees and she also wore white stockings that went to mid thigh. Unlike her brother her ears were only pierced once with gold hoop earrings. Around her neck was a red cloth chocker tied to the right side of her neck much like her belt.

She smiled leaning against her twin. “I’m not, but coming and hanging out with my brother isn’t helping now is it?” she asked and Trace just shrugged.

“Where’s Bithamon at?” Tamon asked looking at Luna.

“She was jealous of your ice cream cone so I gave her some money and sent her to get one of her own,” she answered as she sat up straight.

“Why are you really here Luna? I doubt Krista would have let you come here just to hang out with me,” he stated as he looked at his sister.

“Awwww come on Trace I really did just come here to hang out with you! You’re such a mean brother thinking I had another reason I came here!” She whined crossing her arms over her chest pouting.

“So you didn’t come here for any other reason?” he asked not willing to apologize to her until he was certain.

“I didn’t Krista didn’t care if I came to see you as long as I promised not to help you, but she can’t see everything,” she said smiling and pulled a card out of her pouch laying it face down on the bench next to her brother. It was the same size as a tarot card the back of it was covered in a black and red diamond pattern. Trace picked the card up starring at the face of it which had one word written long ways in white letters reading: choice.

“How is this supposed to help me?” he asked putting the card in his pocket. Even if he didn’t understand what it did his sister had never given him one of her cards that hadn’t done something that helped him. What was strange was the fact he sensed more of his younger brother’s power from it then his twin sisters. He had never received a card from her that had contained someone else’s power then her own which made him even more curious as to what the card was suppose to do.

“You’ll know when it’s time to use it and that’s all that really matters,” she answered looking down the path the bench was near.

Further down it a cat-like Digimon came walking towards him. She unlike Tailmon could not walk on two legs thus her ice cream cone had her tail wrapped around it. Bithamon was several different colors including black, white and orange like a normal calico cat would be her fur like Tamon’s was extremely fluffy giving her a puffy appearance except on her tail were the fur lay flat thus why she could hold the ice cream cone. Her tail also naturally curled at the end to where it looked like it was almost knotted which made holding the cone even easier then it would be for a normal cat. Bithamon’s eyes were golden like Tamon’s and she had the same ear clip as him with the wires that looked like they pierced her ear ending in stars except it was on the opposite ear. She was the same size as Patamon and the only thing that made it easy to tell she wasn’t a normal cat was because her eyes were also similar to Patamon’s in design except obviously the color was different. She wore three golden bangle bracelets of different width on her right front leg.

Bithamon walked over to Luna sitting down at her feet rubbing up against her as she began to eat on her cone. “Hello Trace and Tamon,” she said looking at the two before turning her attention back to her ice cream cone.

“Hi Bithamon,” Tamon greeted then began munching on the cone having finished the ice cream already.

“Hello Bithamon, and there is no chance of you giving me any sort of hint?” he asked though he believed he already knew the answer and found out he was correct when Luna shook her head no. “Thought so,” he mumbled thinking about how much his two sisters just loved to pick on him.

Luna stood up pulling a key from a pocket hidden in her right sleeve. The key was purple and shaped like a skeleton key. “I have to get back Krista didn’t want me to stay long,” she said bending at the waist to hug her brother so she wouldn’t crush Tamon. She then took a few steps back a black door appearing out of nowhere. She used the key to open it up letting Bithamon walk through it first then she followed her closing it behind her.

Trace sighed looking down at Tamon. “Why do I always end up with the weird jobs?” he asked.

Tamon looked up at him once he had finished the cone off. “Because out of five siblings there are only two boys and you’re the oldest boy,” Tamon answered.

“That’s not an answer Tamon that’s just an excuse my sisters use so they can baby Lee,” Trace explained before he picked the small Digimon up so he could stand up. He then began walking towards the hotel he had rented a room from because he had no idea how long he was stuck here.


	13. Chapter Thirteen Sharing Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

_Trace sighed looking down at Tamon. “Why do I always end up with the weird jobs?” he asked._

_Tamon looked up at him once he had finished the cone off. “Because out of five siblings there are only two boys and you’re the oldest boy,” Tamon answered._

“ _That’s not an answer Tamon that’s just an excuse my sisters use so they can baby Lee,” Trace explained before he picked the small Digimon up so he could stand up. He then began walking towards the hotel he had rented a room from because he had no idea how long he was stuck here._

Takeru sat off to the side on the grass watching as his classmate’s participated in the physical education class. The injury to his leg had made it to where he wouldn’t be able to take part in the class until his leg had some time to heal. It was probably a good thing any ways because he had spent another sleepless night to avoid Shaitanmon’s ability to enter nightmares. Most of the night had been spent listening to Patamon tell Takeru what had happened to the little Digimon after he had vanished. Both Yamato and Gabumon had also decided to stay up and listen to what Patamon had to say instead of waiting for Takeru to tell them the next day.

Calilimon was the only one of the group to have really slept even if it was in Takeru’s living room on the couch. She had followed Takeru and Patamon to the school in hopes of being able to speak to Kohana about her brother and to learn something about Kohana as well. She was a bit curious as to what type of human would end up with her brother as a partner. In some ways she felt sorry for the girl wishing it had happened before her brother seemed to go crazy, but in others she hoped maybe the girl would be able to help her brother return to what he once was. Takeru had spent the lunch time with Daisuke, Iori, Hikari and Kohana allowing Patamon to tell them what had happened to him so Calilimon didn’t get the chance to talk to her then.

There was just one thing that they hadn’t count on, but now that Takeru thought about it he should have known something like this could have happened. When he had introduced Calilimon to Kohana her expression had change and she wasn’t all that willing to talk to the Digimon by herself. Takeru could only figure that Kohana didn’t completely trust her because of what Shaitanmon had done to her. The only way she had been willing to talk to the angelic Digimon was if Takeru and Patamon stayed nearby while she did so. Thus while they talked to each other Takeru sat near them while Patamon was sitting next to him.

“Then he wasn’t always this way?” she asked Calilimon. It was easy enough to believe especially how he had treated her when she had first found him in her dream. She was also realizing that Calilimon wasn’t a Digimon she needed to fear. She knew Patamon trusted her from what he had said during lunch, but after what had happened to her she had been worried what the small angelic Digimon wanted which is why she had wanted Takeru and Patamon to stay while she had talked to her. Calilimon had something about her though that made it easy to trust her and relax around her so Kohana was now seeing it had been stupid to be afraid of her in the first place.

“Yes, he used to be a lot nicer. If his coding never had that error in it then he would have never attacked Takeru and hurt you like he did,” she explained.

“I think I meet the nicer side of him… At least for a few seconds any way,” Kohana told her. “I wish he could have stayed that way,” she sighed. Not because she would have her Digimon then, but so he wasn’t causing trouble for everyone. She was worried that what Shaitanmon had done by attacking the other children before he had found Takeru and the recent attacks on Takeru would be used against the other Digimon in the decisions the UN made. Not only that but she didn’t like the fact Takeru kept getting hurt by Shaitanmon.

“I wish he would have to,” Calilimon whispered looking down at the ground. She believed Kohana and her bother would really have gotten along well before the error in the coding had acted up. Calilimon could tell the girl was slightly withdrawn from others and with how her brother behaved before he changed she believed Kohana would have benefited from his personality if they had met sooner. She only prayed that if her brother was ever returned to normal his personality was the same and he would be able to help Kohana open up to others. There really was no reason that she could see for the human girl to be as shy as she was around people she didn’t know.

“Tamon!” Patamon suddenly gasped when he spotted the small Digimon walking towards them and pointed him out to the others. The dog like Digimon smiled at the group as he walked. He was of course by himself because Trace could not get on the school grounds without causing some type of trouble. Trace had complained about not being able to go with Tamon, but he had a feeling it was mainly because Trace was bored. When he reached the group he sat down next to Takeru and Patamon.

“Hello Patamon,” he greeted then he looked up at Takeru to greet him as well, “Hello, Child of Hope.”

Takeru blinked starring at the small Digimon. Patamon had told him when he had first meet the dog Digimon that he had called Takeru the same thing. When he had asked Patamon why he had been called that Patamon had been unable to answer but his small friend had believed it was because of the crest he once held. Now that Tamon was here he figured he would ask him, “Why do you call me that?”

“That’s because you are the Child of Hope,” Tamon explained as if it was the clearest thing in the world, but it really didn’t answer Takeru’s question. He figured along the same lines as Patamon that it had something to do with his crest. If there was any other meaning to it Takeru couldn’t figure it out. He’d have to remember to ask Tamon’s partner if he ever got to meet him.

“Why are you here Tamon?” Patamon asked.

Tamon looked at Patamon before answering, “Trace wanted me to ask Takeru-san some questions since he had to deal with Shaitanmon.” He then looked up at Takeru explaining, “He is hoping you have found out more about him then he has been able to.”

“What does he know about Shaitanmon?” Takeru asked as he leaned back onto his hands.

“He knows that he’s after you mainly and is only trying to get rid of Patamon to make it easier to kill you. That he went to the World of Illusions to copy his sisters abilities or to make them his own he isn’t quite sure which it is. He also knows that as long as he holds the key he stole from him that he’ll be able to do whatever he wants to people through their nightmares. Trace also believes that he isn’t working by himself because even Trace cannot do some of the things Shaitanmon has done with the key such as hurting you in your nightmare,” Tamon summarized for them.

“So what he stole from Trace was a key?” Patamon asked for Trace had never stated what had been stolen from him just that Shaitanmon had stolen something from him and it had been clear he wasn’t happy about it. He had also made it clear that he would get it back some way because it couldn’t be held by someone else for very long. That had confused Patamon making him wonder why someone couldn’t hold onto it for very long. He had never known of an object someone couldn’t keep a hold of except for some of the ghost stories that his friends had told when they had gone camping during the summer. Those objects had been cursed though and he didn’t think Trace would be the owner of a cursed item even if he did guard nightmares.

“Yes, the key is the one Trace uses to open the gates to the Nightmare Realm where he lives. He’s stuck here without it because his older sister is forbidding his other siblings from helping him to get home as punishment for getting it stolen in the first place. He hopes any information you may have might help him get it back. Do you know more about Shaitanmon Takeru-san?” he asked tilting his head to the side one of his ears flopping into his eye until he shook his head to get it back in its original spot. He really hated being this small, but he knew it did have some advantages to it. With him looking as cute as he did when he helped Trace collect information from people they had a tendency of letting their guard down telling the small Digimon things they normally wouldn’t. Of course he knew this wouldn’t really factor into what Takeru had to tell him because he knew Takeru wouldn’t hold anything back from him. There really wasn’t any reason for him to.

“Yes, we believe we know were exactly he came from and why he acts like he does. We also hope we found out how to beat him, but we’re not sure yet,” he summarized then went into more detail telling Tamon just what Kohana’s father had told them. Tamon sat listening patiently while Takeru talked, but he was a bit surprised by what he heard. He had never really heard of something like this before.

“You believe Calilimon holds the key to defeating him?” he exclaimed looking over at the angelic Digimon who was watching the class with Kohana the two of them only partially listening to what the others were saying. Upon hearing her name though Calilimon turned her attention to Tamon and the others.

Takeru nodded. “But she isn’t sure just what it is she’s supposed to do. None of our Digimon could figure out how to access a specific code in their data especially one they didn’t know existed in the first place,” he told him.

“No she knows she has it or a form of it any ways. That song he’s always singing hints at it the part about the lock rusted open and the key long gone. He sang it when he stole the key from Trace. Trace told me since they first hatched the two of them always kept each other balanced because their code always seemed to be for one Digimon, but had been split between the two of them. She used to keep him balanced to where he acted like a normal Digimon, but it seems like something was added to his coding to where she could no longer do it because he became more powerful than her,” He explained.

“Just because she knows she has it doesn’t mean she can find it. It also doesn’t answer how she’s supposed to give this data to Patamon,” Takeru reminded him and Tamon nodded in agreement.

“Even I couldn’t do something like that,” Tamon told them.

“Do you know anyone that could?” Calilimon asked as she moved closer to the group having heard what they were saying. Kohana also turned her attention to them, but stayed where she was at.

Tamon looked at Calilimon then down at the ground as he thought about everything Takeru had told him and everything else that had gone on since this whole mess had started. He knew of someone who was capable of finding the data that was needed, but he already knew that there would be no way that person could help them. The person who was capable of giving said data to Patamon would also be unable to help because she had told Trace just last night that she had been forbidden to help, but then again what was with that card she had given Trace? Was it possible that she had helped them already with this problem?

The small Digimon kept thinking then his eyes widened as the pieces to the puzzle began falling into place and he figured out some of what had to happen. He knew he needed more information then what he had to be completely certain of what needed to be done, but he had a feeling he knew where to get it. Only one more piece was needed and the puzzle would be completed. Now he just had to figure out how exactly Trace and him where going to get the information they needed to collect.

Tamon closed his eyes for a moment wondering if he should tell them what he had figured out. If he did there was always the chance that they would try to find a different way to fix things and he wasn’t even certain if what he had figured out was what was going to happen. _There is no reason to worry them about this if it really doesn’t have to happen… I need to collect the rest of the information and see what Trace thinks of this,_ Tamon thought to himself and he opened his eyes looking up at Takeru with an expression that not even Trace, who had known him from the moment he had first hatched from his Digi-egg, could tell that he was lying. “I’m sorry Takeru-san the only ones I know who could do it are refusing to step in and help because they are afraid things that neither you nor I know about may have been damaged and they wish to prevent any more damage from happening. Trace couldn’t even ask them if he wanted to he can only contact them now if they came to him first,” Tamon said telling Takeru the partial truth. He now knew for certain though that Trace was going to have to show up whenever Shaitanmon attacked Takeru again.

Takeru sighed and let his head hang back as he looked up at the sky. Just what was he suppose to do now? If they couldn’t figure this out just exactly how are they suppose to beat him? Takeru was hoping that they could do it without erasing him forever which usually happened when a Digimon was defeated in the human world. He knew that was most likely the outcome if all the Chosen Children where to fight him the next time Shaitanmon attacked Takeru that is if he hadn’t held back the last time they fought him which Takeru doubted. Tamon stayed for the rest of the class talking to them, but when the bell rang to signify the end of class he left to go back to Trace.

-X-

Tamon found Trace standing across the street from the school and carefully made his way over. “So did they know more about what was going on than we do?” Trace asked as he leaned back against a building.

“Yes they knew more,” Tamon told him and then proceeded to tell Trace what Takeru and the others had told him. As he did so he noticed Trace face paled slightly for a moment then his expression turned dark making him wonder if Trace caught on to what he had.

When he had finished telling him the only response he got for Trace was, “Tch!” Then his friend started walking off.

“Trace, wait, where are you going?” he asked having to run slightly to keep up with him.

“To go find something that I can either punch or blow up preferably blow up!” Trace responded and by that answer Tamon knew he had figured out what he had as well.

“Your older sister won’t---“ he began only to be interrupted by Trace.

“I don’t give a damn what she cares about right this moment!” he shouted at Tamon, but he still stopped walking clenching his fists tightly. “Why the hell did I have to get this job!” he shouted then just shook his head knowing it was in a way his own fault for his sister had warned him that he wasn’t suppose to visit Earth until the year had ended, but he had done so any way. Of course he hadn’t done it for himself as much for his younger brother, but it was still his own fault. Sighing he turned around heading for the school.

“Now what Trace?” Tamon cautiously asked. He knew Trace would never hurt him, but that didn’t mean he would not try to damage the building that they were walking by. He wondered if Trace knew more than he did because the way he was acting was almost as if he was certain that there was no other outcome to this. _Or he’s too angry at the moment to realize there is still a piece missing to everything…_ Tamon glanced to the side noting that the glass was actually vibrating as Trace’s abilities where just starting to react to his anger. If he didn’t calm down soon they would shatter.

“I need to talk to the Child of Hope,” he explained as he made his way towards the entrance of the school.

-X-

The rest of the school day went by pretty quietly since physical education happened right after lunch there really wasn’t that much more time left of it. Takeru pushed thoughts of Shaitanmon and the fight to the side in order to concentrate on the rest of his classes. Well he tried any way it really was hard to concentrate on math when you knew a very critical battle for your life was going to be happening at any moment. Even while he took his notes most of his thoughts were on trying to figure out how exactly they were suppose to do this. When the last bell rang signifying that school was over for the day and for that week Takeru stood up putting his things up in his bag then walked towards the shoe lockers. It was there that he found Patamon, Calilimon and he was slightly surprised to see Tamon was with them as well. The small Digimon politely waited for Takeru to finish switching his shoes and putting his hat and sweater back on before speaking. “I told Trace what you told me and he said he wanted to meet you,” Tamon said explaining the reason he was there.

“Why didn’t he just wait at the entrance gate to meet me?” He asked curious why he had sent his Digimon to fetch him.

Tamon smiled slightly. “Well he was but… Let’s just say one of the schools teachers wasn’t at all happy to find him out there waiting by the gate,” Tamon explained. In truth the teacher had thought Trace was there to start some type of fight or something. Trace had tried to explain the reason he was there but the teacher just didn’t believe him so instead of arguing the point he had left asking Tamon to go and fetch Takeru.

Takeru blinked wondering just what he could have done to upset one of the teachers. “Where is he at?” he asked as he started walking towards the school gate.

“He’s waiting at the park,” Tamon told him as he followed. Takeru nodded as he looked around for Yamato’s truck. Yamato had decided to pick him up today as well though he would be heading back home now that Patamon was back.

Calilimon walked up next to Takeru tugging on his sweater sleeve. Takeru looked down at her. “If this has something to do with Shaitanmon maybe we should invite Kohana along,” Calilimon suggested.

Takeru nodded in agreement. “You’re right it’s her Digimon so she has the right to know what is going on about him. She’s most likely in an art club meeting right about now though,” Takeru told the angelic Digimon.

She looked up at Patamon who was sitting on her head. “Do you know where that is?” she asked.

“Yes it’s not far from Takeru’s class room,” he explained.

Calilimon looked back at Takeru. “Patamon and I will go ask if she wants to come, okay?” Calilimon asked and when Takeru nodded his head Calilimon flew back to the school just as Yamato pulled up in front of the school.

“Where are they going?” Yamato asked leaning towards the passenger’s seat window.

“Trace sent his Digimon to ask if I could meet him in the park and Calilimon suggested we see if Kohana wanted to come as well so they went to go ask her,” Takeru explained as he picked Tamon up. Holding the small dog Digimon in one hand he opened the door of the truck with the other moving the seat forward just in case. He then waited for the Digimon to come back for the answer.

About ten minutes later he spotted Calilimon and Patamon coming back Kohana following. Takeru set Tamon down on the back seat, which he then moved as far over as he could. “Thank you for asking me to come,” Kohana said as she walked over to the truck. Takeru nodded then helped Kohana climb into the back seat while Calilimon joined Gabumon in the back of the truck Patamon transferring to Takeru’s head. When he was sure Kohana was settled in the back seat he moved the passenger seat back into its original position then climbed in closing the door. As Yamato began pulling away from the school Tamon told him which park they would be meeting Trace at.

When they reached the park they all climbed out and Tamon lead them to where Trace was sitting in the park. Takeru could understand why the teacher had not aloud Trace to wait outside of the gate once he saw him and in some ways he really couldn’t blame the teachers. He was sitting on a bench listening to his MP3 player one leg crossed over the other and his left arm stretched out on the back of the bench. Trace stood up when he saw them approaching a slight smile on his face. He had anticipated Takeru’s older brother being with him, but the girl was a slight surprise to him. “Hey, thanks for coming,” Trace said putting one hand into his pocket to turn his mp3 player off while pulling his head phones down around his neck with the other.

“You’re welcome though I don’t really have anything else I can tell you about Shaitanmon,” Takeru explained.

Trace nodded his head. “I know but I think I may have figured something out from what Tamon told me,” he said and Tamon looked up at him wondering what all he was going to tell them.

“Which is what?” Yamato asked.

Trace reached into his back pocket pulling out the card his sister had given him. He held it out to Calilimon who took it and looked at it. “Choice,” she read aloud then looked at him.

“My sister gave that to me last night telling me I would know when to use it. Then Tamon tells me what you told him about the game script that Shaitanmon is suppose to come from and I realized that she meant I’m suppose to use it to help you during the fight,” he explained.

“How can this help?” Takeru asked as he looked at the card then at him.

“My sister has the ability to “create” things such as she did with Tamon and her Digimon Bithamon but it’s not my sisters energy that I sense when I hold that card it’s my little brothers and his ability is to find things that no one else can,” he explained.

“So you’re saying with this you can find the data Calilimon has that Patamon needs to fight Shaitanmon?” Kohana asked as she looked from Trace to the card.

“In theory yes… The problem is it won’t work whenever I want it to. I’ll only be able to use it at whatever event, time or place my sister programmed it for and like I said she wouldn’t really tell me anything about it,” he said and shrugged.

Calilimon held the card out to Takeru who examined it. “That means when we fight Shaitanmon again you’ll have to be there as well,” Takeru said looking at him as he handed the card back to Trace.

Trace nodded as he put the card back into his back pocket. “Yeah, but don’t expect me to be able to help you with the fighting part. Tamon has yet to evolve past his Child stage,” he explained and Takeru nodded.

“I’m glad that we figured out how to get the data,” Calilimon said smiling.

“Do you have a cell phone so we can call you when he does attack?” Takeru asked and Trace nodded as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Takeru got his out of the pouch on his bag and the two exchanged numbers then just to be safe Yamato and Trace did as well.

“Something Tamon told us earlier bugged me. How is Shaitanmon able to hurt people using the nightmares when you can’t? I know he said you believed Shaitanmon wasn’t working alone but that still doesn’t make sense as to why he can do something that you can’t,” Takeru questioned.

Trace thought a moment before answering, “Truthfully? I don’t really have a damn clue as to how he’s doing it. The key is mine yes, but it’s only been mine for about seven years now because I inherited when I was around ten. I’m still learning how to fully use it I mean I just learned how to use it to travel here three years ago,” he explained shrugging.

“Who had it before you then?” Kohana asked curiosity over ruling her shyness at the moment. It also seemed stupid to her at the moment to even care what others thought about her with what all was going on.

“My uncle had it before me and before you ask no I’m sure he isn’t the one helping Shaitanmon. Once you give up the key you can’t touch it ever again without it having some very nasty side effects,” he answered.

“I still don’t understand why someone has to guard nightmares,” Yamato stated.

“When you figure it out let me know I’ve been trying to figure out why I have to since I was first told I was going to get the key from my uncle,” Trace said smiling slightly.

“How can you not know why you do it?” Patamon asked.

“Simple no one ever told me why I had to do it, but I guess part of it is to stop someone from doing what Shaitanmon is doing now. I don’t even know how the key or the realm first came to be it’s like trying to figure out how the Digital World came to be,” he explained.

“Then why do it if you don’t know why you do it?” Gabumon asked looking at him.

Trace shrugged answering, “If I didn’t there really wouldn’t be any reason for me just like you protect Yamato or Patamon protects Takeru. We just do it because we’re supposed to, but in your case you do it also because you want to.” Gabumon nodded understanding what he meant. “Any way as much fun as this is I have to go because there are some things I have to take care of,” he said picking Tamon up and holding him to where the dog Digimon could climb up onto his shoulder.

They all said good bye and as Trace walked off the others began heading back to Yamato’s truck. Tamon looked at Trace. “What do we need to do now?” he asked.

Trace glanced at him before he looked where he was walking heading towards one of the park exits. “I need more information on what exactly Shaitanmon and Calilimon are. Something about them still doesn’t completely add up. I mean how is a Digimon who is supposed to be born as one end up being born as two in the first place?” Trace questioned.

“Do you know where to collect the information from?” Tamon asked for he already knew just where the information was at.

“No not really, but you do don’t you?” He asked stuffing his hands into his pocket.

“Yes I do… We need to get to Primary Village…”

-X-

Takeru sat on the couch in his living room Patamon on one side of him and Calilimon on the other. Yamato had dropped him off at the apartment before he had gone home. The three of them where now watching television together, well the two Digimon were mainly watching while Takeru worked on his homework. He had sent out a mass e-mail to the others about what they had learned from Trace before he had started working on it. His mother was in the kitchen making dinner. Natsuko had been a bit surprised the first time she had seen Calilimon when she arrived at the hospital, but like Patamon the angelic Digimon had a personality that was hard to hate. She had tried several times to get Natsuko to allow her to help make the dinner, but because of her experience with Patamon’s cooking she had decided it would be best to do it herself. The angelic Digimon had pouted a bit until Patamon had dragged her off to watch a movie with him which worked to distract her having never really seen television that much in the Digital World.

“Takeru-san?” Calilimon whispered looking at him.

“Yes?” he asked turning his attention to her.

“Are you going to try and help my brother when you have to fight him again?” she asked. She wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to, but she really hoped that he wasn’t just going to try and erase him for good.

Takeru smiled softly patting her on the head. “Yes I’m going to try and help him if I can. I don’t like him myself because of what he has done, but then again from what you’ve told me it isn’t really your brother that has been attacking my friends and me,” he told her.

“I wish I could have stopped him before it got this far,” she said sadly.

“You tried the best you could to prevent this from happening,” he said watching her for a moment. When she didn’t say anything else he turned his attention back to his homework. He really hoped for Calilimon and Kohana’s sake that they really could help Shaitanmon instead of just erasing him. The fact that they now could get access to Calilimon’s data meant there was a much greater chance that they could, but the two different endings of the story really bugged him. There was still a 50/50 chance that the fighting would end in Shaitanmon’s death. Then again he had better odds now than before Trace had told them about the card. Takeru wondered just how his sister knew Trace would need the card in the first place. Not to mention why did she give it to him and not Calilimon herself? Something about it seemed off, but Trace didn’t seem like a bad person despite of how he looked or what he did so Takeru was willing to trust him. More so because Patamon and Calilimon were only here because of the help his Digimon had given them.

When dinner was finish the four of them sat down at the table to eat. After they were finished eating Calilimon was quite happy to learn there was something she could now do to help. While she washed the dishes and Patamon dried them putting them up after words Takeru went to take his bath. Once he was done he wasn’t surprised to see that the two Digimon had migrated into his bedroom. They were both sitting on Takeru’s bed in front of his laptop and a glance at the screen proved they were chatting with the other Digimon. Patamon was no doubt thrilled to have someone with human hands so they could type for him. Smiling Takeru sat at his desk to finish some more of his homework. He and the other Chosen Children of his age group were hoping to spend Saturday hanging out with each other. Hikari mainly wanted a chance of taking pictures of three angelic Digimon at once and the others had decided to tag along as well. _Hikari is just going to be thrilled if we do return Shaitanmon to normal_ , he thought as he worked on his homework. From what he had heard of his lower stages he had a feeling Shaitanmon was also an angelic Digimon.

He wasn’t working on his homework for very long when his cell phone began vibrating and attempted to fall off the top of his desk. He grabbed it before it had a chance though glancing at the caller I.D. before he answered it. “Hello?” he said as he leaned back into his chair.

“Hello Takeru it’s Ken. I think I might have been able to fix your D-terminal,” he told him.

“Thanks Ken, but why do you say you think?” he asked.

“I can get it to turn on, but for some reason when I try to use it to e-mail someone else it doesn’t seem to work. I got Daisuke to try and e-mail it a minute ago using his and it came through just fine. I’m not sure what’s going on with it. I mean if this was a regular computer I’d say something is wrong with the e-mail service, but it’s not and it’s not like e-mailing on it is something special so anyone is able to do it,” Ken explained.

“Maybe if I take it back to the Digital World it’ll start working again,” Takeru suggested.

“That’s possible you never know with things that come from the Digital World,” Ken agreed. “I’ll bring it with me when we meet up tomorrow,” he said.

“Thanks for fixing it Ken. To tell you the truth I didn’t think it would actually be possible to fix it,” he said. He had actually believed that most likely he would have to take it to Andromon or something to get it fixed. The fact that Ken had really been able to fix it surprised him.

“I’m just as shock as you are, but it seems the D-terminal are more like our electronics’ then the D-3 and Digivice’s I wouldn’t even try to fix one of them if one did happen to break,” Ken told him.

“I don’t blame you who knows what a D-3 and Digivice really look like once it gets taken apart,” Takeru said laughing slightly. “Any way I have to go so I can finish enough homework so I can hang out with everyone tomorrow,” Takeru told him.

“Alright I’ll talk to you later,” Ken said and Takeru closed the cell phone once again letting it hang itself up. He then set it down on the top of his desk to get back to his homework. The truth was he was going to try and stay up all night and work on it. Takeru was still afraid to go to sleep because of Shaitanmon having a hold of the key, but he knew if he didn’t get some sleep soon he really wasn’t going to be much help to the others. Sighing he dug out the energy drinks again drinking one before he returned to his homework.

A few hours into it Takeru looked over at the bed to see both Calilimon and Patamon had fallen asleep. Calilimon had curled up on her side at the head of the bed her wings resting upon Takeru’s pillows with Patamon sound asleep in her arms. The laptop had been closed and pushed to the foot of the bed. Smiling slightly Takeru found his digital camera and took a picture of it knowing Hikari or even Kohana would also want a copy of it. He then set it down on his book shelve as he turned the room light off, but turned his desk light on as he went back to doing his homework. 


	14. Chapter Fourteen Hanging Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

_A few hours into it Takeru looked over at the bed to see both Calilimon and Patamon had fallen asleep. Calilimon had curled up on her side at the head of the bed her wings resting upon Takeru’s pillows with Patamon sound asleep in her arms. The laptop had been closed and pushed to the foot of the bed. Smiling slightly Takeru found his digital camera and took a picture of it knowing Hikari or even Kohana would also want a copy of it. He then set it down on his book shelve as he turned the room light off, but turned his desk light on as he went back to doing his homework._

Takeru glanced at the clock when he heard his mother moving around in the living room. It was a few minutes before 9 o’clock in the morning and by then Takeru had managed to finish all of his homework. He was now sitting at his desk reading a book and had been waiting for his mother to get up before he started moving about as well. He grabbed a long sleeve black shirt, a sleeveless dark green zip up sweater with a hood as well as a pair of khaki pants before heading into the bathroom to change.

When he was finished and was running a comb through his hair he glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn’t at all surprised to see that his eyes were beginning to look like Trace’s with how little sleep he had been getting. The others had yet to say anything because they knew why he was doing it, but he had a feeling that they would sooner or later. _I am going to have to chance sleeping sooner or later… I don’t need to collapse on them in the middle of a battle…_ he thought as he set the comb down walking out of the room.

Walking over to the book shelve he grabbed his digital camera putting it in the pocket of his sweater then he went over to his desk grabbing his cell phone, wallet, keys and D-3 putting the cell phone and wallet into his back pocket, his keys into one of the hip pockets and the D-3 into a pocket that rested against his left knee. By then Patamon had awoken and as he had tried to get out from underneath Calilimon’s arm he had woken her as well. The Angelic Digimon slowly sat up stretching her arms as she yawned while Patamon stretched his back much like a cat would do. Takeru looked at the two of them smiling. “Good morning you two,” he said as he walked over to the bed sitting on the edge of it.

Patamon looked at him smiling as well. “Good morning Takeru!” he said happily.

Calilimon blinked a few times before speaking, “Good morning.”

Takeru then left the room to go help his mother cook breakfast. When they had all eaten Takeru, Patamon and Calilimon stood in the kitchen making rice balls. There was a list sitting in front of them of the different type of rice balls they where suppose to be making since they were making it for everyone. They had decided yesterday to hang out in one of the parks and that everyone had to make a part of the lunch they would eat there. Everyone had decided to give Takeru the job of making the rice balls because of having two Digimon around instead of one believing it would be easier on him then having him make something else. After they had finished Takeru placed the rice balls into bento boxes separating them by type so they wouldn’t get mixed up. He packed them into his currently empty and brand new messenger bag along with a couple of different drinks handing the bag to Calilimon who had volunteered to carry it due to Takeru’s leg. The three then said good bye to Takeru’s mother and headed out for the park.

-X-

Trace sat in an internet café in front of a computer with Tamon sitting in his lap. He had spent most of the night last night trying to find one that had computers that the public could use instead of one that required he bring his own that by the time he had found one it was past closing time. Which was why he was here now instead of having done what he needed last night though he wish he had been able to complete his task last night instead of having to wait until today. “How are we supposed to get to the Digital World without your key?” Tamon asked looking up at his friend.

Trace grinned digging into his pocket. “The same way everyone else gets there,” he said pulling a Digivice out.

Tamon stared at it for a moment before looking up at Trace. “When did you get one of those?” he asked.

“I’ve had it since Luna first handed me your egg,” Trace explained as he began typing at the computer to pull a digital gate up on the screen.

“Why am I only finding this out now?” Tamon questioned his eyes narrowing slightly. This entire time he had believed Trace didn’t have one and didn’t like the fact that he hadn’t found out about it sooner. After all the Digivice was pretty important on the whole evolving thing that he had yet to do.

Trace shrugged before answering, “I figured you already knew I had one I mean a human can’t really have a Digimon partner without one so I didn’t think I had to show it to you. Obviously I was wrong and I apologize for not showing it to you sooner…”

“If you had one all this time, then why haven’t we gone to the Digital World already?” he asked very curiously.

“There had been no reason until now to go,” he answered as he held the Digivice up to the computer activating the gate and the two disappeared into it.

-X-

By the time Takeru, Patamon and Calilimon arrived at the park they were meeting the others at Hikari, Kohana, Daisuke, Miyako, Iori and their Digimon where already there Ken being the only other one yet to arrive. The three walked over to the group Calilimon setting her bag down with the others. “We were beginning to wonder what was taking so long,” Miyako said as she looked at Takeru.

Takeru shrugged answering, “I can’t walk to fast right now with the way my leg is injured.”

Patamon flew over to Hikari landing on her shoulder. “Shall we evolve now Hikari?” he asked.

“Yes please,” she answered as she pulled her camera out.

Patamon nodded flying off her shoulder landing a few feet away and evolved to Angemon. Tailmon walked a bit away from Hikari so she could evolve to Angewomon. Calilimon walked over to them and the three Digimon did as Hikari told them to as she took pictures.

“It kind of looks like Angemon and Angewomon had a kid,” Kohana said watching the three Digimon and Hikari from where she sat at a picnic table her sketch book in front of her.

“It really does!” Miyako agreed as she began to laugh.

“The only problem is Calilimon’s eyes are the wrong color,” Takeru said as he laughed as well. He and the others had long ago agreed that Angemon and Angewomon’s eye color was most likely blue after having discussed it for several hours one day after school. The entire group had been very bored at the time when Daisuke had decided to try and get Patamon to evolve into Angemon so they could attempt to remove his helmet so they could see his eye color. Patamon had of course refused but later he had admitted to Takeru that he wasn’t sure if his helmet could be removed because he himself had never tried before.

Daisuke kicked his soccer ball up then bounced it off his knee before suggesting, “Maybe they adopted her then?”

Takeru laughed as he sat down at the picnic table backwards resting his back against the table part of it. He watched as Daisuke head butted the ball towards V-mon who missed and had to go chase the ball down. Iori sat down beside him and looked at Takeru. “You’re still not sleeping?” he asked and Takeru nodded.

“I haven’t figured out any other way to keep safe from Shaitanmon…” he answered looking at his bandage hands then at Iori who nodded.

“From what you’ve said Kohana there really isn’t any way you can wake yourself up once you find yourself in one of his dreams right?” Iori asked looking at Kohana.

Kohana looked up from the drawing she was doing looking at the two. “There really isn’t… I mean I can usually wake myself up from a nightmare, but when I tried during that nightmare I couldn’t…” she answered setting her graphite pencil down.

“According to what I understand from what Trace has said technically we’re no longer dreaming when Shaitanmon starts hurting us… More like a part of us is in another realm,” Takeru explained not really understanding it himself. He knew he couldn’t have been completely in the other realm because Patamon would have noticed him disappearing even if it was only for a few minutes. Then again Patamon was a pretty heavy sleeper only ever waking up if Takeru had woken up screaming from a nightmare. The small Digimon even slept through earthquakes!

Ken walked towards them from one of the park paths Wormmon riding on his shoulder. Upon seeing him, Daisuke kicked the ball towards him and Ken kicked it back towards him only to have V-mon snag the ball before it got to Daisuke kicking it away from his partner. Daisuke quickly chased after V-mon and the ball as V-mon began a game of soccer keep away. Ken smiled slightly shaking his head as he watched the two before walking towards the picnic table setting his bag down after pulling Takeru’s D-terminal out of it. “I see Hikari has already started taking pictures,” he said glancing at Hikari and the three angelic Digimon before handing Takeru his D-terminal.

“Yes she started as soon as I arrived a few minutes ago,” Takeru told him taking the D-terminal and putting it in the opposite pocket of the D-3.

“We were discussing earlier how much it looked like they were a family,” Miyako told him as she walked over to him kissing Ken lightly on the cheek causing him to blush lightly. The two of them had started going out during the summer. The only person it had really shocked when they had started going out was Daisuke who everyone knew could be a bit dense at times.

Ken looked over at Hikari and the three Digimon again saying, “It really does look like they’re a family.”

“Is she only taking pictures of them today?” Wormmon asked out of curiosity. They had gotten together a few times like this during the years so Hikari could take pictures of all the Digimon outside of battles.

“She has not said anything about wanting to take pictures of the rest of us yet, but she may change her mind,” Hawkmon answered and Wormmon nodded.

Ken gently picked Wormmon off his shoulder setting the Digimon down on the grass then went to go join Daisuke and V-mon in playing with the soccer ball. Miyako walked over to Hikari to talk to her as she took the pictures. Wormmon went to join Hawkmon and Armadimon who were playing a board game. Takeru pulled his digital camera out snapping a few pictures of his friends playing. After a bit Iori went to join the Digimon at the board game and Takeru stood up stretching walking over to his bag to pull a bottle of water out of it.

-X-

Trace glanced around the Digital World hands in his pockets. As soon as the two had entered the Digital World Tamon had evolved back up to Rascmon and the colors on his fur became darker and much richer in color. “I guess now you’re a real Digimon,” Trace commented as he looked at his Digimon.

Rascmon looked at himself then shook much like a dog did after playing in water. “I don’t feel any different,” he said looking at Trace as he sat down.

“You look different not so washed out compared to some of the other Digimon anymore,” Trace told him and he nodded. “Any way, we should try and find Primary Village. I got us as close as I could through the Digital Gate, but there isn’t any gate that opens up right next to the village so we have some walking to do.”

Rascmon looked around for a moment before following Trace who had started walking. Trace was hoping that Elecmon could answer some of the questions he had about Calilimon and Shaitanmon being the keeper of the village. There was always the chance that Calilimon and Shaitanmon’s egg had hatched outside of Primary Village which meant that he would be unable to find the answers he needed. It took them about half an hour of walking before they were able to reach the colorful Primary Village. The small baby Digimon who lived there at first shied away from Trace afraid of his appearance, but when he proved he didn’t mean them any harm they began bouncing up and down demanding attention from him. Trace laughed slightly as he kneeled down to pet some of them.

As for Rascmon the dog Digimon was in heaven being surrounded by so many baby Digimon. He lay down to where the baby Digimon could reach him nuzzling a few of them that came up to him. By the time Elecmon had walked over to them Rascmon had baby Digimon crawling all over him. Trace glanced over at Rascmon shaking his head a slight smile on his face before he turned his attention to Elecmon as he stood up straight. “Hello my name is Trace and I was hoping you could help me with something,” Trace told him.

Elecmon looked him up and down then glanced over to Rascmon. He then turned his attention back to Trace having deemed they weren’t a threat to the baby Digimon he watched over. The baby Digimon wouldn’t have approached them if they were one... “How can I help?” he asked as he sat down.

“I was wondering if you remember a Digi-egg hatching about four years ago. It would have had twin Digimon come from it both of who should have had angelic features to them being vaccine Digimon,” Trace questioned as he sat down as well.

Elecmon thought for a moment closing his eyes as he did so. When he opened them back up he spoke, “I remember, but only because twin Digimon are not all that common,” Elecmon told him.

“Did anything seem odd about their Digi-egg before they hatched or them after they hatched?” he asked.

“Nothing was odd about the Digi-egg not a first any way something happened while I was gone to fetch food for the babies though. When I got back all the babies were hiding in the houses and it took me hours to convince them to come out. After I did I went to check on the un-hatched eggs to make sure nothing had happened to them. The only one that seemed off is the Digi-egg that you’re asking about. I knew it was suppose to hatch that day I went for food in fact I expected it to hatch while I was gone, but when I came back the Digi-egg had gotten bigger, but it no longer felt like it was about to hatch but more like it had just appeared in the village. I had Kudamon check up on it, but he said nothing was wrong with it. When it finally did hatch I was surprise that it had hatched into twins,” Elecmon explained.

“Why where you surprised? I mean I know twins are rare but with the Digi-egg becoming bigger and with how much experience you had with Digi-eggs shouldn’t you have known it was going to hatch into twins?” Trace asked.

Elecmon shook his head and answered, “That’s just it that Digi-egg was never supposed to be twins. It never showed signs that Digi-eggs show when they are going to hatch into twin Digimon. Not to mention the two Digimon that hatched out of it had several things wrong. Such as they didn’t have any attacks what-so-ever until they evolved into their next stage and even then the attack was as weak as a baby Digimon. If you tried to separate the two of them at all both of them would start crying as if in tremendous amount of pain. When Kudamon looked at the two of them he told me that he’d be surprised if they lived to their child stage because the coding had been split between the two of them. He told me two Digimon couldn’t live off coding that was originally meant for one.”

“But they did survive,” Trace stated and Elecmon nodded his head.

“Yes as long as you kept them together… One time when the two of them got separated to where only the female looking one was still within the village she nearly died on us no matter what Kudamon tried. It wasn’t until the brother was brought back here by one of my friends nearly dead as well that the two of them recovered. When they evolved to their Child Stage the two left here after Kudamon warned them to never part from each other,” Elecmon told him.

 _Then how are they surviving now with them being so far apart?_ Trace wondered as he sat there thinking _And what happened when Shaitanmon was separated from his sister?_ “Why did the two of them get separated?” Trace asked.

“A random Digimon attacked the village. It doesn’t happen very often now that things had calmed down so much, so when it did I wasn’t prepared for it and some of the baby Digimon where taken away. Which is why I had my friends help me find them all and bring them back. All of them where fine except for the twin male like Digimon. It was because they were all fine that the attack never really made much sense to me,” Elecmon answered.

Trace nodded as he looked around Primary Village. He sighed having hoped the answers would be different then what he got but there was really nothing he could do about it now. It was as he feared and there was now only one solution to this entire mess. Trace glanced at Rascmon who was still playing with the baby Digimon knowing there was no way he was going to get the dog Digimon to leave by his own choice for awhile. Trace shook his head smiling slightly as he watched Rascmon play. If Trace ever had kids he had a feeling he would have a very willing baby sitter in his Digimon.

-X-

The group sat around on a few blankets having decided to break for lunch. Angemon and Angewomon had devolved because Hikari had run out of ideas for pictures by then of the three angelic Digimon. She was now sitting beside Kohana and Miyako the three of them looking through the photo’s on the camera’s screen as they ate. Takeru had taken a few more pictures of everyone playing before he had joined Iori and the Digimon in the board game they had been playing. Calilimon sat with V-mon, Daisuke, Ken and Wormmon talking about soccer. By the sounds of things she was going to join them in play after everyone had finished eating. That didn’t really surprise him since Digimon seemed to really like the game.

Takeru lay back on the blanket he was sitting on as he ate a rice ball looking up at the cloudy sky. According to the weather it wasn’t suppose to rain today, but Takeru believed differently as he looked up at the sky. He only hoped it started after all of them had gotten home. He listened as the others talked amongst themselves as he closed his eyes for a moment…

… At least that was what he believed until he found himself walking through a forest. He mentally cursed at himself for having fallen asleep as he glanced around. The tree’s of the forest were all dead and black almost as if they had been caught up in a fire, but when Takeru walked up to one to look at it the tree didn’t appeared to be burned but really was black. He turned his attention to the ground as he carefully walked over exposed roots the ground reminding him of red clay. At this moment all he could hope was one of his friends would realize he had fallen asleep and try to wake him up before something bad happened.

Slowly he walked glancing up only every once in awhile as more roots began to come out of the ground the further he walked. As he walked he began to hear screaming coming from all directions and he covered his ears stopping for a moment hoping the screaming would stop. He waited for several minutes, but when the screaming didn’t stop he uncovered his ears and kept walking. He looked up glancing around him wondering just what was going to happen this time only to have his foot catch on one of the exposed roots. He fell forward catching himself on his hands and the knee of his uninjured leg wincing from the impact on the burns. It had been his injured leg that had caught on the root so it was stretched out straight.

Carefully he backed up a bit too where he could bend his injured leg while keeping it from touching the ground as he pushed himself into a standing position. He leaned back against the tree as he checked to see if he had managed to twist his ankle. When it didn’t hurt that badly when he rotated his foot he stepped over the root and continued on his way. While he walked Takeru wondered if it wouldn’t be a better idea to just stay still instead of walking forward and to where ever Shaitanmon obviously wanted him. _Would it really matter? Either I find him myself or let him hunt me down…_ he thought to himself as he kept his eyes to the ground determined not to trip once again.

When the screaming disappeared completely Takeru stopped moving as he glanced around him. He began to hear branches snapping behind him and Takeru turned around expecting to see Shaitanmon, but he couldn’t see anything. In fact everything behind him had been covered in complete blackness he couldn’t even see an outline of one of the trees. Eyes narrowing Takeru turned his attention to in front of him again as he began walking again. The further he walked forward the more branches he heard snapping behind him. When he stopped walking the sound stopped all together. Takeru then heard laughter echo all around him unable to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.

Takeru’s eyes narrowed as he leaned back against one of the trees putting his hands in his sweater vests pockets. The more he moved the worse this seemed to get. He knew from the laughing that Shaitanmon was messing around with him, but he wasn’t sure what to do at this point. “You don’t have to think so hard on this,” Takeru heard someone say from above him and he glanced up. Sitting in one of the higher branches on the tree was a young boy around the age of eleven. His black hair was wavy just barely reaching his shoulders while his bangs fell into his eyes and on the left side of his bangs was a single green streak of color. The young boy’s eyes were royal blue in color and he still had some of his baby fat in his face giving him an innocent look. He wore a black turtle neck sweater that was too big on him to where he had to roll the neck down giving it a puffy appearance and the sleeves went half a foot over his hands. The bottom of the turtle neck sweater reached almost mid thigh. He wore regular jean pants that had been ripped at the knees from playing and the legs where too long to where it collected on top of his white tennis shoes. Takeru had a feeling that if any of the female Chosen Children had seen him he would have been dubbed cute.

“Who are you?” Takeru asked as the boy jumped out of the tree landing in front of Takeru.

The boy thought a moment before answering, “My name is Lee Nicholas Star.”

“Are you Trace’s younger brother?” Takeru asked.

Lee grinned but it quickly vanished as he grabbed hold of Takeru’s arm with both of his hands. “But you can’t tell him you saw me unless absolutely necessary! If he or any of my sisters found out I did this I’d get in so much trouble!” Lee told him saying it very fast to where Takeru almost didn’t understand him.

Takeru smiled and patted Lee on the head with his free arm. “I promise,” Takeru told him and Lee grinned again as he let go of Takeru’s arm taking hold of his hand instead tugging on it slightly as he began to walk in the same direction Takeru had originally been going. Takeru followed behind him asking, “Lee why are you here?”

Lee looked over his shoulder at Takeru as he walked. “Because I want to help you and Trace! I snatched Luna’s key when she wasn’t looking so I could show you and only you this!” he answered pointing ahead of them not with a finger but with a skeleton key that was a brighter green in color then what was on Takeru’s D-3.

Takeru couldn’t see anything ahead of them but there had to be something or Lee wouldn’t be leading him like this. “Earlier you said I didn’t have to think so hard on this. What did you mean?” Takeru asked.

Lee stopped turning around to face Takeru. “This isn’t one of Shaitanmon’s nightmares! It’s a memory of Shaitanmon’s from yesterday night that I found and with the help of Luna’s key I’m showing it to you,” he explained.

Takeru looked at Lee slightly confused. “Why would you want to show me a memory of Shaitanmon’s?” he asked.

Lee gently tugged on Takeru’s arm as he started walking again Takeru once again following. “To help you understand something that I don’t think anyone but my two oldest sisters understand… Even after you beat Shaitanmon there isn’t a guarantee that this will be over,” Lee told him.

“What do you mean there is no guarantee that it’ll be over after we beat Shaitanmon?” Takeru asked becoming even more confused.

“Yumimon has told you Shaitanmon has a split personality but it’s more than that!” Lee tried to explain but realized it was probably more confusing. He wasn’t that good at explaining things being as young as he was and having only interacted with his siblings who he never had to explain things to. “Any way you’ll see when we get there!”

Takeru did have a slight understanding at what Lee was trying to get at but he kept quite letting the young boy lead him onward. It didn’t take that long for the two of them to wonder into a large clearing with a black dead looking willow tree in the center. Lee let go of Takeru’s hand holding the green key out in front of him. There was a small flash of light and Shaitanmon suddenly appeared and standing in front of him was a smaller Digimon about the same size as Lee with six black angelic wings. “I had to piece the two memories together to get it to look like this but that smaller Digimon is Shaitanmon’s child stage known as Tsumon. He’s the one that’s been holding the Shaitanmon you know back from killing you until now,” Lee explained turning to look at Takeru.

Takeru starred at the two Digimon then turn to look at Lee asking. “Then he wasn’t playing around with us?”

Lee shook his head. “No he only acted that way so you couldn’t tell something was wrong well not entirely he does see this as nothing more than one giant game… Something happened after Calilimon and Tsumon hatched. I can’t find out what it was because I’m not strong enough yet, but whatever happened he ended up with two different people inside of him. They call each other Red and Lavender because of the difference in eye color. They’re not really standing there it should just be Shaitanmon, but this is how the two different people remember this event happening. This is what I wanted to show you,” Lee said looking at the two Digimon he pointed the key at them and there was another flash of light causing the two Digimon to start moving.

“I won’t let you hurt them anymore!” Tsumon shouted a black sword appearing in his hand.

Shaitanmon laughed glaring down at the smaller Digimon. “What are you going to do destroy yourself? You know if you do that your sister will die with you!” Shaitanmon pointed out causing the smaller Digimon to hesitate.

Tusmon shook his head, but the sword vanished. “What you’re doing is wrong there is no reason to kill those two!” He told Shaitanmon who just laughed again.

“Just be a good little Digimon and stay quiet. Once I kill angel boy and blondie everything will fall into place…” Shaitanmon said taking a step towards Tsumon.

Tsumon took a step back right into the willow tree. “I won’t let you,” Tsumon threatened his eyes narrowing.

“What are you going to do, Lavender? It took all you had left during the last battle to take back control over your own body! You refuse to destroy yourself because you fear what it would do to your sister… You are nothing Lavender! Nothing more than bits of excess data in this digital body!” Shaitanmon told him digging his claws into the willow tree next to Tsumon’s head.

“If I am nothing more than excess data then why haven’t you gotten rid of me yet, Red?” Tsumon asked glaring up at Shaitanmon. He had nothing to fear from him he had already proven that much as it was. Shaitanmon didn’t say anything allowing time for Tsumon to think without him interfering. His eyes narrowed as he grabbed hold of Shaitanmon’s arm gripping it as tightly as he could. “It’s because of Kohana-chan isn’t it? If I’m not here you have no connection to her which means you wouldn’t be able to heal yourself anymore!” Tsumon shouted. Shaitanmon growled at Tsumon pulling Trace’s key out of his pocket.

“That’s enough out of you Lavender I grow bored of this!” Shaitanmon shouted and the key flashed as Tsumon vanished.

Lee held his key out again and it flashed causing Shaitanmon to vanish. He then held out with his left hand a purple skeleton key and the scenery around them began to shift. The tree’s vanished and the area became lighter as the ground became covered in green grass tall enough to reach Takeru’s knees and almost tall enough to reach Lee’s waist. The sky turned blue as large clouds floated through it. Takeru could even see Lee’s hair begin to move as well as the grass as wind began to blow. “No wonder Trace wouldn’t let me into his realm…” Lee muttered as he pulled his hands into his sleeves before turning to look at Takeru. “Did you understand what you saw?” he asked tilting his head to the side.

Takeru nodded as he sat down. “What did he do to Tsumon at the end?” Takeru asked looking at Lee.

Lee walked over to Takeru sitting down beside him. “Sealed him away I think… But I’m not positive… It took a lot of energy just to get that memory from the two of them without getting myself killed,” Lee explained covering his mouth with his hand as he yawned.

“Why do you guys go through so much trouble for us? I mean yes your brother does benefit from helping us because he will get his key back, but that doesn’t explain why Luna or even you, Lee are helping us when you’re not suppose to…” Takeru told him.

Lee smiled leaning back on his hands. “Until a year ago I didn’t even knew a place like your world existed… We’re forbidden to talk to our relatives about other realms unless they hold or will hold key’s like us, but it was a last minute decision on my cousin’s part to hand his key over to me so they never told me. My job is to guard memories whether they are human, animal, Digimon or some other type of creature I guard them all. I also have the ability to find anything that someone has lost. When my brother Trace was trying to help me adjust to the fact that I would always be seeing things through the eyes of others and most likely wouldn’t experience it myself for awhile he did things for me such as coming to your world. He was always trying his hardest to cheer me up even to the point where he disobeyed Krista when she had ordered no one was to come onto your world for a year. If Trace hadn’t disobeyed her for me Shaitanmon never would have gotten hold of his key…” Lee stated taking hold of Takeru’s hands starring at the bandages wrapped around them.

“Things wouldn’t have been this bad for you and Patamon if Trace had just listened to Krista instead of ignoring her just to fetch me some baked yams… And don’t say I couldn’t have known this would happen my sister who is three years older than me is the guardian of time. She had warned me the day before Trace had left not to allow him to leave but I did…” Lee said letting go of Takeru’s hands standing up and turning his back to Takeru as he fought hard not to cry.

Takeru starred at Lee’s back for a moment before speaking, “But without your help Lee then there wouldn’t be any chance that we could save Tsumon. With your ability to find anything that is lost we’ll be able to get the data from Calilimon that Patamon needs. If your brother hadn’t disobeyed Krista then most likely we would still be searching for a way to save him or have decided it wasn’t worth the risk that it would just be better in the long run to delete him.”

Lee turned looking at Takeru smiling slightly, but it was quite evident that Lee had not been successful in keeping from crying. “I’ll let you wake up now Takeru-onii-san. I can’t keep a hold of Luna’s key much longer without her finding out and even if I could I’m not strong enough to fight off Shaitanmon and my brother’s key. All I can do now is make sure you don’t forget what I showed you,” Lee told him as he held Luna’s key out. The area around Takeru began to shatter much like Shaitanmon’s illusion had done before…

…Takeru opened his eyes to see Iori standing over him. “I was just about to wake you up,” Iori told him as Takeru sat up.

“Thanks Iori,” Takeru told him stretching.

Iori nodded. “Nothing bad happened?” he asked.

Takeru shook his head. “No everything was normal,” Takeru told him even though he did remember what Lee had showed him. He had no clue what Krista’s ability was and he was afraid that if he spoke aloud what Lee had done then she might find out which would mean breaking his promise with Lee. He did have to admit that Lee’s job made a lot more sense than his older brothers did.

Takeru felt a tug on his sleeve and turned to see Patamon hold his hat out to him. “Thanks Patamon,” Takeru told him putting his hat back on. He then stood up going to join Daisuke, Ken, V-mon, and Calilimon in playing with the soccer ball though he would make sure to be careful with his injured leg. At the moment he just wanted to forget what was happening and pretend for awhile that everything was okay.


	15. Chapter Fifteen To Battle, Once More

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

… _Takeru opened his eyes to see Iori standing over him. “I was just about to wake you up,” Iori told him as Takeru sat up._

“ _Thanks Iori,” Takeru told him stretching._

_Iori nodded. “Nothing bad happened?” he asked._

_Takeru shook his head. “No everything was normal,” Takeru told him even though he did remember what Lee had showed him. He had no clue what Krista’s ability was and he was afraid that if he spoke aloud what Lee had done then she might find out which would mean breaking his promise with Lee. He did have to admit that Lee’s job made a lot more sense than his older brothers did._

_Takeru felt a tug on his sleeve and turned to see Patamon hold his hat out to him. “Thanks Patamon,” Takeru told him putting his hat back on. He then stood up going to join Daisuke, Ken, V-mon, and Calilimon in playing with the soccer ball though he would make sure to be careful with his injured leg. At the moment he just wanted to forget what was happening and pretend for awhile that everything was okay._

It had taken Trace a good three hours before he had been able to pull Rascmon away from the baby Digimon and back out into the human world. By then it was way past lunch time and even though Rascmon was not the type to beg he did make it quite clear to Trace that he was indeed hungry. It had also started raining making Trace more than agreeable to get off the streets. The two of them had stopped at a fast food restaurant to grab something to eat. Trace now sat sipping on his soda thinking over what Elecmon had told him.

“Trace?” Rascmon asked looking up from the french fries that he had been eating on. It was the easiest food on the menu for the Digimon to eat as well as the fact he happened to like them. Trace found this weird having stated that being a Digimon fashioned after a _dog_ he should eat meat. Rascmon had ignored his comment only repeating what he wanted.

“Hmm?” Trace said looking at Rascmon.

“Were exactly do you get money from? It’s not like you work or anything…” Rascmon questioned. It was something that had been bugging him since Trace had first started buying things for Lee. He just hoped his sister wasn’t somehow involved. Creating money just to fill their needs could screw with the Japanese economy and Rascmon did not want to hear the resulting scolding the twins would get if that’s what it was.

Trace set his soda down on the table pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. He opened it up pulling a debit card out of it. “Where exactly do you think our relatives go that give up their keys?” he asked

Rascmon stared at the debit card he could clearly see Trace’s full name on it. So Trace did have at least something within this world that said he existed. It made Rascmon wonder if he even had a birth certificate for this world as well, but he put the thoughts to the side for the moment. “I don’t know I thought maybe they went to live in Krista’s realm or something…” he told Trace shrugging.

“Some do, while others choose to go to different realms… The uncle that gave me the nightmare key when he retired came to live in this realm somewhere in Australia I think he never did tell me where he went… Any way he is a very successful author and gave me a debit card to his account as well as Luna…” Trace explained and Rascmon stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

“You need to get your own job,” Rascmon told him thinking it was wrong burdening his uncle like this successful author or not.

“The only way I’ll do that is if I’m stuck here for good Rascmon… Nobody in Japan would hire someone looking like me…” Trace said as he picked his soda back up. Rascmon had to agree with him there. Why the teen had thought such an appearance would be okay in Japan was beyond him. Then again there was nothing to say that they would be stuck in Japan like they were so Trace really wasn’t at fault.

Trace was about to switch his soda with his hamburger when his phone announced that he had a text message. Setting his soda down once again, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket reading the text message that had come from Takeru:

I met your younger brother…

Trace eyes widened as he reread the text message wondering if he had just read the kanji wrong the first time. English was his first language not Japanese so it was possible that he had. When he was absolutely sure he had read it correctly he texted Takeru back:

Where are you at?

Trace only had to wait a few seconds before he got his answer telling him Takeru was back at his apartment and the text included his address. Trace messaged back stating he’d be over there in a half hour. “Rascmon we need to finish eating we have somewhere we have to go…” Trace told Rascmon who didn’t ask questions, but just did as he was told. Trace’s scent told him something had the teen worried and it turn it made Rascmon worry.

-X-

Takeru had only texted Trace because he had deemed in necessary to tell him what Lee had showed him. He highly doubted with what Lee had told him about what his brother had gone through to make him happy that Trace would betray his brother to his sisters. He was just glad that the young boy had not made him promise to keep it from Trace completely. With how much was at stake for Trace it was only fair that he know that things could continue even after the pending battle was finished. He just hoped Lee would understand his decision.

When Takeru opened the door after hearing the bell ring he was a bit surprised. Trace was wearing a black beanie which he had shoved most of his hair under as well as covered his ears with it. He had also added a black zip up sweater with a hood to avoid the rain. “Is your mom here?” Trace asked as Takeru stepped aside to let both him and Rascmon inside.

“No she’s still at work,” Takeru told him and Trace nodded pulling the beanie off and stuffing it in his pocket. Trace had not wanted to get Takeru in trouble by the way he had looked. He was beginning to see just how much of an inconvenience his appearance was in Japan and was seriously rethinking it all together. It was causing too much trouble for himself and it could cause it for others as well. The idea of removing his jewelry after all the trouble he had gone through to get the piercings made him toss the idea aside. Trace sat down so he could get his boots off to replace them with slippers.

“It’s days like this that I envy Rascmon,” Trace said starring at the dog Digimon who was completely dry while Trace’s sweater was not forcing him to remove it hanging it up on a peg next to Takeru’s jacket. “Just where exactly did you meet Lee?” Trace asked as he followed Takeru into the living room.

“In a dream… I fell asleep this afternoon and at first I thought Shaitanmon had caught me but then your brother showed up stating he had taken Luna’s key in order to show me something,” Takeru told him as he sat on the couch next to Calilimon and Patamon who were playing a video game on the television. Trace sat on a recliner while Rascmon sat near the edge of the couch watching the two Digimon play the video game, but he did keep his attention on the conversation Trace and Takeru where having.

“Great he’s going to get the both of us in trouble…” Trace grumbled knowing his twin would know Lee took the key no matter how careful his younger brother had been. He looked at Takeru asking, “What did he show you?”

“A memory from Shaitanmon,” Takeru told him then explained what he had seen and what Lee had told him including the part of how Lee blamed himself for some of the things that had happened.

Trace sighed wishing even more now for the ability to get back home, but Lee had at least answered one of the questions that Trace still had about Shaitanmon and Calilimon. _At least now I know what happened when Shaitanmon had been separated from his sister, but it still doesn’t explain how the two of them are living while separated from each other…_ He had of course answered it by breaking a ton of rules including a couple Trace had placed on him such as not going to Trace’s realm, but this proved to Trace that there was a chance Lee was stronger than Krista which would explain why his older sister was so protective of him. “At least you don’t have to worry about him somehow reverting back to his old ways when he becomes Kohana’s Digimon,” Trace told him and Takeru nodded in agreement.

“Will Lee get in trouble for what he did?” Takeru asked.

Trace shook his head. “Luna won’t get mad at him and I’ll tell you now she knew he took the key as soon as he touched it. There isn’t any way to touch one of our keys without the owner knowing. As for Krista she may get mad at him, but the worse she may do to him is ground him to where he can’t leave her realm for a set time… She may not even do that with how much she babies him,” Trace told him.

“Just what is it that your older sister guards?” Takeru asked curious now that he knew what the other siblings did.

Trace sighed thinking about whether or not he should answer it. _Ah hell I’m in trouble already what does it matter_ … “She guards destiny or fate either one really works, but it’s her job to know which of the futures my youngest sister see’s is suppose to happen then make sure it does happen. She has some type of book that tells her which one is suppose to happen and don’t ask where she got the book from she has refused to tell anyone,” he answered.

Takeru stared at him for a moment. The duty of making sure the world went down the path it was suppose to? There was probably more to it then what Trace had said because of the fact humans had free will and could change their minds at any moment changing what Trace’s youngest sister had seen. Just the thought of being responsible for such a thing though made Takeru almost cringe. “I wouldn’t want that job…” he admitted.

“Neither would I… I already have my hands full with just guarding nightmares,” Trace told him. _Which I’ve already screwed up on that one…_ he thought to himself.

Trace didn’t stay that long afraid what Natsuko’s reaction would be if she saw him when she came home. Takeru had tried to tell him it wouldn’t really matter because if one surrounded by Digimon judge by looks alone you’d most likely cause a very huge misunderstanding between you and some random Digimon. Trace knew Takeru had a point, but he didn’t want to risk it for the moment having his fill of being starred at and such just walking around Odaiba. He had only stayed as long as he did because he had trouble pulling Rascmon away from the television the Dog Digimon having been trying to join in on the game. How he planned to do that without any hands was beyond Trace, but it hadn’t stopped Rascmon from trying.

After he had left Takeru sat watching Patamon and Calilimon playing as he thought about what Lee had shown him. Lee had wanted him to see that there was chance there would still be a battle even after they had beaten Shaitanmon… Which meant Lee was afraid of the second identity inside of Shaitanmon’s body the one referred to as Red. Takeru wondered just what it was about it that scared the young boy so much… Yes Red was something to be feared but he would disappear after they managed to save Lavender… Wouldn’t he? Was that what Lee was afraid of? Takeru knew there was no way for him to know until after the battle was finished, but he hope Red would just vanish afterwards not wanting to deal with him anymore.

After awhile Takeru had joined Patamon and Calilimon in playing the video game until his mother had come home. He then helped her prepare dinner and after everyone had eaten he had taken the two Digimon into his room with him so they wouldn’t bother Natsuko. The two where now playing a two player game over Patamon and Takeru’s DS Lite while Takeru browsed the internet. It hadn’t taken long for the two Digimon to fall asleep Calilimon lying on her stomach while Patamon had curled up next to her side much like a cat would do. He had taken another picture because both Hikari and Kohana had shown interested in the one he had shot the other night. Once again Takeru turned the main light off and turned his desk light on hoping, that him not sleeping wouldn’t last much longer. Of course having gone three or more days with only an hour’s sleep didn’t go very well with his body and it wasn’t even an hour before the teenager had fallen asleep at his computer.

Calilimon waited about half an hour more after he had fallen asleep before carefully sitting up so as not to wake Patamon up. Something had seemed too easy in Trace’s description of what was to happen in the next battle. The Angelic Digimon flapped her wings a few times in order to climb off the bed and quietly walked out of Takeru’s room. She wanted to talk to Trace herself one more time when none of the others where around and now was the only chance she really had to do so. Calilimon walked towards the front door opening it and walked outside making sure to lock it behind her as she closed the door. Shivering slightly because of how cold it was the angelic Digimon took to the skies in order to find Trace.

-X-

The cell phone on top of Takeru’s desk began vibrating moving across the desk as it did so slowly getting closer to Takeru. When it was right up next to the teenage boy’s arm he stirred slightly as he began to wake up. Slowly he opened his eyes reaching for the cell phone and flipped it open pressing the talk button. “…Hello?” he murmured rubbing his eyes with his free hand. When the sound of an explosion came across the cell phone he sat up glancing at the caller I.D. It wasn’t a number he recognized by heart so he believed it could only be one person. “Trace what’s going on?” He shouted causing the small Digimon on his bed to wake up and stare at him his blue eyes glowing slightly in the weak lamp light.

“Shit! Takeru you need to come to the park you meet me at!” He heard Trace shout then more explosions in the background. Takeru stood up pressing the phone between his ear and shoulder as he switched his flannel pajama bottoms for a pair of jeans. “Rascmon! Don’t even think of it! He’ll kill you in an instant! Sit!” Trace shouted and by the difference of his voice Takeru guessed he had pulled the phone away as he had done it.

“Trace what’s going on?” Takeru asked as he quickly grabbed his D3 from his bedside table as well as his keys putting them in his pocket.

“Calilimon came to talk to me then Shaitanmon showed up not to long after!” he told him. Takeru glanced at the bed thinking for a moment Trace was wrong and wondering why he was even in the park at that hour but when he only saw Patamon on his bed he knew he wasn’t.

“I’ll be right there!” Takeru shouted and hung the phone up using the button. He quickly headed for the door Patamon following after him as Takeru text messaging his brother in the process. It had been a rule amongst the Chosen Children that they kept their cell phones on at night so when they had to be contacted in an emergency it was possible. Even if it was set to vibrate many of the Digimon had very good hearing and would be able to tell if they were being messaged or called.

He knew by now Patamon could clearly hear the conversations Takeru had on his cell phone so he knew the small Digimon already knew what was going on. He grabbed his jacket putting it on then sat down to quickly pull his boots on. “Patamon do you know why Calilimon would want to talk to Trace?” he asked as he stood up to unlock the door.

“No she didn’t say anything about it to me,” he answered flying out of the door once Takeru had it opened. The small Digimon then proceeded to evolve to Angemon picking Takeru up once he had closed the door flying off in the direction of the park. While Angemon flew Takeru sent a text message to Hikari telling her what was going on and asked if she could bring Kohana with her since Hikari was still staying over at her place.. Then he quickly sent messages to the others about what was going on. He received one in return from his brother telling him he was on the way.

When they reached the park they could see where several explosions had taken place. They were both looking around trying to figure out where Trace was when Takeru spotted a burst of flame he guessed came from Rascmon. “Angemon there!” he said pointing to the flames and the angel Digimon began to descend. Trace was surprisingly out in the open in one of the field areas of the park. Angemon landed near them setting Takeru down as Trace and Rascmon ran over to them. By looking at Trace Takeru had a feeling both of them were pretty close when one of the explosions had gone off. Trace had several cuts on his face and arms while Rascmon didn’t have any marks, but Takeru believed it was because of his body type not because he didn’t get caught up in it. “Where are they?” Takeru asked.

Trace shook his head pointing up. “Somewhere up there! When he showed up and started fighting Yumimon flew up into the sky to keep us from getting involved. Shaitanmon moved to fast for me to track him and Yumimon is hiding behind the skyscrapers so I don’t know where she’s at either,” Trace answered.

“Why did Calilimon come here?” Angemon asked as he looked skyward for the two Digimon.

“She wanted to ask me some questions, but she didn’t really get the chance before he started attacking,” Trace told them as he also looked skyward. When another explosion happened in the sky slightly to the right of them Angemon evolved to Seraphimon and quickly flew up into the sky. As he did Metal Garurumon landed near them long enough to drop Yamato off before flying off after Seraphimon. Seraphimon reached the area he believed to be where the explosion was at, but couldn’t find either of them.

“Where did they go? Can you track them?” Seraphimon asked as Metal Garurumon came up beside him.

“I’m trying but something is messing with my tracking system besides the skyscrapers,” Metal Garurumon answered as he scanned the area looking around.

“How can he move so fast?” Yamato asked as he watched the two Digimon trying to find the other two.

“I think Shaitanmon is able to move so fast because unlike Metal Garurumon, Seraphimon and Yumimon he isn’t weighed down by all that armor they have,” Trace answered shrugging.

“Digimon don’t usually follow those type of rules though,” Takeru pointed out as he saw War Greymon and Ofanimon fly over to where Seraphimon and Metal Garurumon where at. Then the two descended dropping off Taichi, Hikari and Kohana before flying back up.

“He’s not a normal Digimon though you want to compare him to a game not Digimon standards,” Trace reminded him and Takeru had to admit he had a point. Taichi, Hikari and Kohana ran over to them as Metal Garurumon and War Greymon Jogress evolved to Omegamon.

“I’m kind of surprise he isn’t attacking Seraphimon,” Taichi said glancing at the others before looking up at the Digimon.

“I know with how much he’s been after the two of them you think that would draw him out to fight us,” Yamato agreed though none of them really liked the idea of using Seraphimon or Takeru as bait as of right now that was all they could really do.

“He’s playing out the game attacking his sister first then he’ll go after Seraphimon… I think…” Takeru said not completely sure of this. The entire idea that a Digimon was following a games script seemed weird to him it had when it was first told to him, but then again he had seen some pretty weird things as a Chosen Child. Such as Digimon hiding within vending machine look a likes on File Island to avoid the sunlight which harmed them.

When another explosion occurred near the edge of the park the three Digimon moved over there in time to see something crash into one of the sky scrapers. Cautiously Seraphimon and Ofanimon flew over to the sky scrapper while Omegamon kept an eye out. The two angelic Digimon had to fly inside of the building before they found Yumimon who was standing. One of her wings was missing and by the way it was cut off Seraphimon had a feeling she got hit by Shaitanmon’s Decaying Claw. Most likely she had severed the wing to keep the decaying from spreading to the rest of her body. She looked at the two angelic Digimon and flew over to them. “I’m glad I don’t have to do this by myself anymore,” she said as the three of them flew out of the building rejoining Omegamon.

“What happened?” Ofanimon asked as the four tried to find her brother.

“I came to talk to Trace and was in the middle of asking him a question when I suddenly evolved. That gave me enough time to shield Trace and Rascmon from one of my brother’s attacks. The two of us starting fighting, but he kept doing attacks that kept putting Trace in danger so Rascmon tried to join the fight so I flew up into the sky to keep them out of it. I didn’t realize he could be so fast,” she explained.

“Now what are we suppose to do? Fight him until that card activates?” Imperialdramon FM asked as he flew up behind them.

“From what I understand yes, but how did you get here so fast?” Seraphimon asked looking at the knight Digimon. A glance at the ground proved that the others had arrived as well. The ones who weren’t strong enough too actually fight in the battle would be there to protect people and Digimon that weren’t involve in the fight. Even in the middle of the night Odaiba was still busy.

He just shrugged before answering, “Ken was staying the night at Daisuke’s.”

“The only problem is finding him,” Omegamon said getting back to what was going on.

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Yumimon said and began flying away from the others.

Sure enough Shaitanmon dove straight at her shouting, “Decaying claw!” His claws glowed red as he aimed for her wings again trying to stop her from being able to fly.

“Giga Crusher!” Imperialdramon FM shouted firing his cannon at Shaitanmon being the only one able to actually somewhat follow Shaitanmon with his eyes because he was the fastest in the group. Shaitanmon dodged unable to complete his attack as Imperialdramon FM had fired the shot above Yumimon.

“At least one of us can follow his movements,” Omegamon commented as he flew at Shaitanmon the Digimon having slowed down in his attempt to dodge Imperialdramon FM’s attack and he intended to take full advantage of it. “Grey Sword!” Omegamon shouted as he slashed at the Digimon.

“Didn’t you learn from last time?” Shaitanmon shouted as he went to catch the Grey Sword with his Devimon hand much like he had done with Imperialdramon FM Splendor Sword the last time they fought. Omegamon, however, allowed the Grey Sword to retract stopping his attack then pointed both of his hands at Shaitanmon.

“Double Torrent!” Omegamon shouted firing both fire and ice shots at Shaitanmon.

“Devil’s Descent!” Shaitanmon shouted countering the attack. The attacks collided and both Digimon, being close enough to the attacks, where sent flying in different directions when it exploded. Yumimon, Seraphimon, and Ofanimon quickly followed after Shaitanmon as Imperialdramon FM tried to stop Omegamon from crashing into a skyscraper. The less damage they did to the city the better.

The three angel Digimon stopped outside of the skyscraper that Shaitanmon had crashed into not wanting to follow him without knowing what they were getting themselves into. “Damn I guess he did learn, but you three didn’t seem to! Game Over!” Shaitanmon shouted as he came flying out of the skyscraper. The three Angelic Digimon where immediately wrapped up in the black chain and as soon as it had wrapped around them black electricity began electrocuting them.

“Splendor Sword!”

“Grey Sword!”

The two knight Digimon proceeded to free the three Angel Digimon from the chains with their swords. Shaitanmon had flown past them not really caring at the moment that his prey had been freed from the chains.

“Eden’s Javelin!” shouted Ofanimon as she fired a beam of light from her javelin as soon as she got free from the chains. Shaitanmon dodged and flew off at top speed the others unable to follow him.

“Damn if he just wasn’t so fast!” Imperialdramon FM cursed as he looked at the three angelic Digimon

“The problem is we’re fighting to not kill while he’s fighting to kill,” Ofanimon said brushing some of the chain that was still on her off as if they where dust.

“Yes, well the real problem is that card Trace has,” Seraphimon said as he glanced at the others.

“I have a feeling on how to activate it, but I don’t like it,” Omegamon said as he watched the skies for Shaitanmon.

“Do you think any of us like it?” Imperialdramon FM asked as he also turned his attention to the skies. Both knight Digimon believed they had to let Yumimon be defeated by Shaitanmon to get the card to activate. Agumon was the only one that had not gotten to know the Angelic Digimon, but it didn’t really matter. None of them liked the idea of allowing one of their friends to be defeated while they stood on the sidelines.

“What do you suggest we do then? Fight him like this until he’s the only one with the ability to really fight?” Yumimon asked them as she looked at all of them. “If you do then what’s to stop him this time from actually erasing Seraphimon and killing Takeru-kun?”

“Tell us what happens if we’re all wrong and Shaitanmon erases you along with the code that is needed to hopefully restore him to normal? We’d have to erase him then no questions ask and we have the chance of two Digimon never coming back which would leave Kohana without the Digimon she wants so badly forever!” Ofanimon shouted very frustrated with the situation at the moment.

“All this is accomplishing is giving him a chance to attack us,” Seraphimon stated as he moved away from the skyscraper to get a better look of the surroundings Omegamon following him. He hadn’t meant to start an argument when he had mentioned the card but had only been trying to point out what the real problem was for them at the moment.

-x-

“Please tell me they’re not actually up there fighting amongst themselves,” Trace said as he watched the battle with the Chosen Children Rascmon sitting down beside him.

“… I think they are,” Hikari sighed not really blaming the Digimon. She hated this just as much as they did. Too much was at stake if they made even the slightest error in judgment.

“Don’t worry it really shouldn’t affect their fighting ability… I think…” Daisuke said looking at Trace and shrugging. They had argued amongst themselves before during battles, but that had been ones a little less important than this one so he wasn’t completely sure.

“That’s really reassuring…” Trace said sarcastically his eyes narrowing. _How exactly did these kids and Digimon not get themselves killed?_ He thought to himself. He of course knew the answer, but he still couldn’t help wondering. They had a lot of luck on their side that was for sure. The Digital World also favored those who didn’t give up, but this wasn’t the Digital World it was the real world.

-x-

Yumimon sighed shaking her head slightly as she followed them. “I know you guys don’t like it, but my brother and I are both Ultimate’s I doubt he could erase me before the four of you could intervene,” she told them. She wanted this over as fast as possible and she really was afraid that if they continued to fight like this they really would be unable to stop Shaitanmon when they needed to.

Seraphimon patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t give up so easily Yumimon,” he told her.

“Yes after all we always win in the end even if it takes us a couple of tries,” Omegamon told her thinking back on all the fights they had been through.

“Or a couple of falls,” Imperialdramon FM added also thinking back, but he remembered the battles in more realistic terms then Omegamon just because of his personality.

“You really are too confident! Decaying Claw!” Shaitanmon shouted as he once again dove for Yumimon as well as Seraphimon this time. Imperialdramon FM tried to spot him in time, but by the time he could see him he would have hit Seraphimon and Yumimon if he tried to attack. The two angelic Digimon had attempted to move apart from one another to minimize the damage that would be dealt. As Shaitanmon dove past the two of them his claws scrapped the blue part of Seraphimon’s armor on his left arm while he missed Yumimon entirely.

“Strike of the Seven Stars!” Seraphimon shouted firing the seven orbs of light at the diving Digimon. Shaitanmon dodged the attack going back into the park area, but crashed into the ground in his attempt to clear them all causing a creator as debris went flying. All the Digimon, but Seraphimon dove after him.

Seraphimon grabbed a part of the armor with his right hand that wasn’t decaying and ripped the blue armor off tossing it as high as he could. “Strike of the Seven Stars!” He shouted once again directing his attack at the blue armor destroying it completely then proceeded to follow after the other Digimon.

The two knight Digimon and the two angelic Digimon landed near where Shaitanmon should have hit the ground. They waited for the dust clouds to clear, but when it did he wasn’t any where around. “ _Now_ where is he?” Omegamon shouted looking around. Shaitanmon was really beginning to annoy him.

Seraphimon stopped his descent and looked around. “He likes to run around too much,” he commented.

“Awwww, but it’s much more fun to run around like this then staying still,” Shaitanmon said from right behind Seraphimon and the angelic Digimon quickly turned around backing up. Shaitanmon smiled his Cheshire cat grin at Seraphimon.

“Redemptions Arrow!” Yumimon shouted firing the crystal arrow at Shaitanmon. Shaitanmon dodged the attack backing up a bit.

“You guys are acting different then last time,” Shaitanmon commented looking at Seraphimon then at the Digimon who were down on ground level.

“At least we’re not insane,” Imperialdramon FM said looking up at Shaitanmon.

“Heh, you say that as if it’s a good thing,” Shaitanmon laughed and Seraphimon just shook his head. Shaitanmon then proceeded to stretch his back yawning slightly as if he was bored.

“Please tell me your not about to run again,” Ofanimon said watching him.

“Nah, not this time I feel like playing some more,” he said then vanished from sight once again at least to Seraphimon. As for Imperialdramon FM he quickly flew up into the sky and farther into the park the other Digimon following after him. Imperialdramon FM stopped right above the teenagers looking around.

“Lost him,” Imperialdramon FM complained as he looked around.

“Why can’t I move around as fast as him,” Yumimon whined as she looked around.

-x-

“I don’t get why he keeps running like that. It’s clear he has the advantage over them because their holding back,” Iori said standing near the others.

“It’s just one big game to him,” Ken said shaking his head.

“He’s reminding me of a little kid,” Kohana mumbled.

Takeru looked at her having heard her, “How so?”

She looked at him thinking a moment before answering, “Well it’s almost like he’s playing hide and seek with them, but then gets to excited or bored to stay where he’s hiding so he comes out taunting them.”

Takeru thought about it for a moment. “Then when he realizes that taunting is only going to get him caught he takes off to hide again until he gets bored or excited all over again,” he said agreeing with her. Kohana nodded looking back up to the Digimon.

“Makes me wonder if he’s going to throw a temper tantrum when he ends up getting caught,” Yamato commented.

“As long as it’s the kind where they only shout at you and call you names because any other type will probably not be good,” Sora said as she walked over to Yamato and the others nodded in agreement with her.

-x-

“Devil’s Descent!” Shaitanmon shouted from above them and the Digimon looked up to see a rather large energy ball descending on them and the Chosen Children below them.

“Not good! Strike of the Seven Stars!” Seraphimon shouted.

“Giga Death!”

“Eden’s Javelin!”

“Double Torrent!”

“Redemptions Arrow!”

The Digimon fired their attacks at Shaitanmon’s attack causing it to explode. The shock wave from the explosion sent the Digimon flying towards the ground and they maneuvered the best they could to keep from landing on the Chosen Children. Omegamon landed in front of them on his back while Imperialdramon FM landed almost on top of some of them having caught himself on his hands and knees preventing him from crushing them. Seraphimon landed behind them on his back Ofanimon right beside him. As for Yumimon she landed to one side of them.

“Everyone alright?” Imperialdramon FM asked Miyako, Jou, Koushirou and Iori, who he almost landed on top of.

“We’re fine you didn’t hit us,” Jou said looking up at him.

“What about you?” Ken asked as he walked over to him Daisuke following him.

Imperialdramon FM laughed slightly as he began to stand up. “I’m fine.”

“Omegamon?” Taichi asked as him and Yamato walked over to him.

Omegamon sat up shaking his head slightly. “I’m fine Diablomon did worse than this,” he told them as he stood up.

“Seraphimon are you alright?” Takeru asked as he walked over to the angelic Digimon.

“Yes I’m fine and I agree with Omegamon, Diablomon did do worse,” he said laughing slightly as he stood up dusting himself off. Of course when he had fought Diablomon the first time he had been caught in the middle of evolving by one of his attacks unlike now.

“And you Ofanimon?” Hikari asked walking up behind Takeru and over to her Digimon.

“I’m alright Hikari don’t worry,” Ofanimon answered as Seraphimon helped her stand up.

Kohana walked over to Yumimon eyes widening slightly when she noticed the Digimon was having a bit of a problem standing up. Every time Yumimon tried to push herself into a standing position her legs would start shaking and try to give out on her. “Yumimon what’s wrong?” Kohana asked placing her hand on Yumimon’s arm.

Yumimon looked at Kohana shaking her head slightly. “I don’t know. I’ve barely been damaged by him I shouldn’t be having this much trouble,” she answered.

Kohana nodded looking at Yumimon then gasped, “Yumimon your wing!” she shouted pointing to the mate of the one she had cut off earlier. Yumimon turned her head looking at the last wing on her right side and saw that it was starting to fragment turning into 01’s and 00’s causing her eyes to narrow in confusion.

“Kohana look at my back for me earlier he hit me with his Decaying Claw I thought I got rid of all that he touched but…” she said and Kohana nodded moving behind Yumimon as the angelic Digimon pulled her hair over her shoulder so Kohana could get a good look at her back. Kohana turned her attention to Yumimon’s lower back were the wing connected. She could see where Yumimon had cut the other one, but the stub of that wing seemed fine the other one was just falling apart.

“It looks like you did Yumimon there doesn’t seem to be any reason for your wing to be falling apart like it is,” Kohana said walking back to the front of Yumimon.

Yumimon thought for a moment then pushed herself into a standing position. “At this rate it’s not going to take that card all that long to activate,” she said before looking at Kohana and smiled. “Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine you should probably get back to the others.”

Kohana slowly nodded wondering if she was speaking truthfully or not. She began walking back over to the others. Takeru walked over to Kohana. “How is Yumimon?” he asked looking at Kohana.

“Something’s wrong with her,” she answered pointing to Yumimon’s wing.

“That… doesn’t look good,” he said as he looked at Yumimon.

“I know, but she says its fine,” she told him shaking her head.

Trace pulled the card out of his back pocket looking at it. Nothing about it had changed and he sighed as he put it back into his pocket. _Just how far does this have to go before the card activates?_ Trace thought as he watched the Ultimate Digimon move to the front of the Chosen Children. “Damn, I hate having to wait around like this,” Trace complained as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Rascmon leaned against Trace looking up at him. “I am sorry that I cannot evolve,” Rascmon said nuzzling his head against Trace.

Trace sighed pulling one of his hands out petting Rascmon on the head. “Don’t worry about it Rascmon it’s not your fault. I should have taken you to the Digital World as soon as I learned how to travel to different realms not just earlier today,” Trace told him.

Omegamon glanced at the others before looking up at the sky. “Did he run off this time?” Omegamon asked no one in particular as he looked for Shaitanmon. As if to answer his question the Digimon began to hear the devil Digimon sing:

_I’ve got a lock_

_A little lock on my mind_

_Rusted open the Key long gone_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

“No, he’s still here,” Seraphimon told them as he flew up into the sky until he was even with the roof of some of the skyscrapers in hopes of not dragging the Chosen Children into the fight again. The others flew up as well spreading out slightly as they tried to spot Shaitanmon. Seraphimon heard a noise behind him and turned around in time to see Shaitanmon dive down crashing into Ofanimon causing the two too begin falling down towards the ground. By how fast they were falling, as Seraphimon and the other Digimon chased after them, he had a bad feeling that Shaitanmon had control of the fall. From the small explosions coming from the Digimon it was quite obvious Ofanimon was fighting back. As they neared the ground Shaitanmon kicked Ofanimon as hard as he could to increase the power of her fall as well as stop himself from crashing into the ground with her.

Seraphimon used this to his advantaged because Shaitanmon had slowed down considerably in his attempt to keep from crashing. “Excalibur!” he shouted the purple energy sword extending from the armor on his right arm and he slashed at Shaitanmon’s back aiming for his devil like wing in an attempt to slow him down. The sword easily sliced through Shaitanmon’s wing and the devil like Digimon began to fall, but much to Seraphimon’s shock Shaitanmon just laughed as he fell. A flash of light emitted from one of belts around Shaitanmon’s waist…

-x-

Hikari gasped as she watched Ofanimon crash to the ground. The only thing that kept her from running towards her Digimon was fear of getting involved in the fight. “Please be alright,” Hikari begged as she kept her attention towards her Digimon. Takeru glanced at Ofanimon then at Hikari before turning his attention back to the battle in time to see Seraphimon cut Shaitanmon’s wing off.

“That should make things a bit easier,” he said smiling slightly. He then heard someone gasp and turned to his right side to look at Kohana. Her face was very pale and she was clutching tightly to her wounded shoulder her fingers just barely above the wound itself digging into her shoulder ever so slightly. He quickly walked over to her. “Kohana what’s wrong?” he asked

She bent at the waist slightly in an attempt to relieve the pain she was suddenly feeling from the wound her loose hair falling over her shoulder. “I… I think he’s using the Digivice,” she explained as tears began forming at the corner of her eyes. Takeru watched her unsure what he could do for her, but when she swayed slightly he placed his hands on her waist to keep her steady. “Thank you…” she said looking at him and he nodded.

-x-

Seraphimon who had begun to follow Shaitanmon’s descent watched as Shatainmon’s wing suddenly healed itself and any of the damage that he had received from the battle disappeared completely as the light disappeared. _He’s using the Digivice!_ Seraphimon thought to himself and Shaitanmon laughed harder as he caught himself flying up at Seraphimon his right hand stretched out as far as it could.

“Decaying Claw!” he shouted as his claws began to glow red once more and Seraphimon flew to the left to avoid the attack, but Shaitanmon turned and would have hit Seraphimon in the back if Yumimon hadn’t tackled him much like Shaitanmon had done to Ofanimon. The sibling Digimon fought against each other as they fell each trying to gain control of the fall.

Yumimon grinned much like her brother as they fell. “Spirit of the Mirror!” She shouted causing the mirror at her waist to glow brightly causing an explosion that sent the two Digimon flying apart. Shaitanmon nearly crashed into the ground near Ofanimon who was starting to stand up while Yumimon nearly collided with Seraphimon managing to use her wings to stop her movement.

“Sefirot Crystal!” Ofanimon shouted 10 crystals’s appearing around her as she fired them off at Shaitanmon who had his back to her.

He turned upon hearing her shout flying up a bit to get a better view of her. “Devil’s Descent!” he shouted counterattacking though his attack over powered hers causing her to fly up into the sky to dodge his attack.

Seraphimon glanced at Yumimon noticing that the armor on her arms much like her one wing was turning into 01’ and 00’s. There was also damage to the right side of her stomach from the mirror’s explosion the almost real looking blood flowing from the wound slightly. “Yumimon what’s going on?” he asked as she looked at him then at the armor on her hands as the wing disappeared completely.

“I think…” she started then paused a moment as she noticed her wing was gone and shook her head as she continued; “I think it’s my brothers doing.”

Omegamon flew over to them Imperialdramon FM following as Ofanimon flew up at them. “How are we supposed to fight him and tire him down if he keeps healing like that?” Omegamon asked.

“Just how is he even using the Digivice to heal like that?” Imperialdramon FM asked. “I mean that is what he’s doing right? Like how he did in front of Kohana?”

“Yes I think I saw it flash before the wing healed like they flash when we evolve,” Seraphimon told them keeping his attention on Yumimon. The others also looked at her noticing the damaged she had received as well as the vanishing armor.

“He’s stealing the data from you isn’t he?” Ofanimon asked, “He’s stealing it then using it to heal himself somehow.”

“I think so,” Yumimon answered looking at her brother. There was damage to his stomach as well from the explosion bleeding ever so slightly, but he was ignoring it as he watched them humming to himself as he thought about what he was going to do next.

“Then the more damage we do to him the more you end up hurt,” Imperialdramon FM pointed out looking at Shaitanmon as well.

“Why can’t that card activate already so we can finish this without dealing with the slow torture,” Omegamon complained.

Shaitanmon was suddenly flying up at them again and Imperialdramon FM aimed his cannon at him once again. “Giga Death!” He shouted frying his attack

“Double Torrent!” Omegamon shouted joining in the attack.

Shaitanmon flew slightly to one side dodging the attacks as he continued to fly upward. “Game Over!” he shouted as the chains went flying at the Ultimate Digimon causing them to attempt to doge or counterattack the chains.

Omegamon used his sword to try and cut them before they could wrap around him, but instead they wrapped around his sword. Before they could wrap around him completely he pointed the Garurumon head at the chains. “Garuru Cannon!” He shouted freezing the chains to where he only had to twist his arm slightly to shatter them.

Yumimon had tried to fly away from them only to get them to wrap around her legs. “Eden’s Javelin!” Ofanimon shouted using her Javelin to free Yumimon and then spun her javelin around to avoid getting caught herself.

Seraphimon and Imperialdramon FM both successfully dodged the chains by moving behind skyscrapers to keep from getting grabbed by them. Shaitanmon grinned slightly as he flew at Yumimon and Ofanimon. “Game Over!” He shouted once again the chains moving much faster now that he was closer to the two female Digimon. They didn’t have a chance to try and dodge the chains this time as it wrapped around them trapping the two angelic Digimon. The black lighting pulsed through the chains causing them to cry out as the others flew to help them. By then Shaitanmon was right in front of his sister grinning. “No more backstabbing on your part little sister… Decaying Claw!” he shouted and went to plunge his glowing red claws into her stomach. His claws barely touched her before Imperialdramon FM tackled Shaitanmon from the right side away from Yumimon and into a skyscraper both of them disappearing into it. Seraphimon and Omegamon used this chance to free Ofanimon and Yumimon from the chains.

An explosion came from the skyscraper as Imperialdramon FM came flying out of the hole him and Shaitanmon had created stopping himself from crashing into another one with his wings. The armor on his right shoulder had been hit by Shaitanmon’s decaying claw and had started to decay. He glanced at his shoulder his eyes narrowing slightly. _I can’t pull this off like Seraphimon did earlier. Either I have to devolve on my own or let it eat at my data until it forces me to devolve…_ he thought to himself as he turned his attention to the skyscraper he had tackled Shaitanmon into. Sighing Imperialdramon FM shook his head. _To hell with it let it be a forced one if I devolve now there is no telling if I as V-mon and Wormmon will have enough energy to get back to this evolution!_

Seraphimon looked at Yumimon’s stomach were Shaitanmon had touched her. He had been purposely aiming for where she had been wounded by her own attack. Even with how lightly he had touched her with his claws before Imperialdramon FM had tackled him away Seraphimon could still see where her skin had begun to be eaten away. “Maybe now that card will activate,” Yumimon deadpanned as she glanced at her side.

Omegamon flew over to Imperialdramon FM. “Has he come out yet?” he asked looking at him.

“Not yet, unless he got blown out of the other side when our attacks collided in there… I just hope the building doesn’t collapse even if there is no one in there…” he said as he looked at Omegamon real quick before turning his attention to the building again.

-x-

Trace had moved a bit away from the Chosen Children standing about twenty feet behind them with Rascmon as he watched the fighting glancing at the card every once in awhile in his hands. When it came to playing his part in this fight he didn’t want anyone to try and interfere with him. He had been staring at the card for the past minute since Shaitanmon had captured Yumimon and had touched her with his claws. He smiled a humorless smile when the words on the card started spinning and when they stopped the words were golden. “It’s time keep the kids from interfering,” he told Rascmon who nodded. The dog Digimon then walked over to the Chosen Children standing in the center of them. Trace followed Rascmon, but didn’t stop when he reached the middle he kept walking.

Takeru looked at him as he walked past and almost took a step back from the look Trace had on his face. Instead he shook his head feeling something wasn’t right. “Hey, Trace, wait a minute!” He shouted and Yamato tried to stop Trace but he walked right past them ignoring them.

“Cerberus Flame!” Rascmon shouted and a flame wall appeared behind Trace making to where none of the Chosen Children could follow after him. Takeru turned his attention to Rascmon who was standing right beside him.

“Rascmon what’s going on?” Takeru asked glancing at Kohana making sure she wasn’t going to faint before he removed his hands from her waist moving to stand in front of the dog Digimon.

Rascmon sat down and looked up at him, “A choice must be made…” Takeru did not like the expressionless look that was on the Digimon’s face. It made him believe even more so that something wasn’t right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - … So how many think they know how this is going to end? As to why Seraphimon isn’t using Judgment so much it doesn’t seem to be a cannon attack of his. I saw it when I first looked him up, but when I looked him up again it was no longer there *shrugs*
> 
> *hearts* Reviews, Critiques or just a plain hello :3


	16. Chapter Sixteen Guardian Mode

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.

 

“ _It’s time keep the kids out of this,” he told Rascmon who nodded. The dog Digimon then walked over to the Chosen Children standing in the center of them. Trace followed Rascmon, but didn’t stop when he reached the middle he kept walking._

_Takeru looked at him as he walked past and almost took a step back from the look Trace had on his face. Instead he shook his head feeling something wasn’t right. “Hey, Trace, wait a minute!” He shouted and Yamato tried to stop Trace but he walked right past them ignoring them._

“ _Cerberus Flame!” Rascmon shouted and a flame wall appeared behind Trace making to where none of the Chosen Children could follow after him. Takeru turned his attention to Rascmon who was standing right beside him._

“ _Rascmon what’s going on?” Takeru asked glancing at Kohana making sure she wasn’t going to faint before he removed his hands from her waist moving to stand in front of the dog Digimon._

_Rascmon sat down and looked up at him, “A choice must be made…” Takeru did not like the expressionless look that was on the Digimon’s face._

Trace glanced back at the wall of fire that separated him from the Chosen Children sighing as he faced forward. He knew they wouldn’t hate him for what he was going to have to do, but he had no doubt that he would upset more than one of them. “What a great way to meet some of them,” he mumbled sarcastically to himself as he once again shook his head. _Why did things have to turn out this way?_ He thought to himself as he stuffed the card back into his pocket. With his hands free the teen undid the clasps on the belts on his gloves in order to remove them stuffing them into his pocket once he had pulled them off. Removing the gloves showed that both of his forearms were covered in the wrap around thorn tattoo not just the left one.

Black wings appeared on his back, the wing span being over 10 feet in order to carry his weight. He wasn’t surprised by the gasps he heard from behind him, but then again he wondered just how many of them actually though these wings were really his. _Just another trick of Luna’s to make things easier for me,_ he thought to himself as he flew up. At that moment, Trace was glad his cloths were so dark in color because he wouldn’t be easy for any of the Digimon to see him. He had no doubt if they saw him flying like this that they would stop him. Trace didn’t have the time to try and get past them if they did try to.

He was also glad when Shaitanmon suddenly came flying out of the sky scraper in an attempt to attack Omegamon and Imperialdramon FM because this caused Ofanimon to help them leaving Yumimon and Seraphimon alone. Trace did his best to avoid the battle as he flew up to the two angelic Digimon. If he got caught up in the fight it would most likely result in his death.

As he came closer to the two Angelic Digimon, both Seraphimon and Yumimon sensed him and instantly turned their attention to him. “This explains how you safely got onto the top of Tokyo tower,” Seraphimon commented as his eyes narrowed behind his helmet his sudden appearance seeming strange to him. Trace just shrugged in response. He didn’t have to explain everything about him to them, did he?

-x-

“You mean whether or not Yumimon forgives her brother or not, right?” Takeru asked beginning to feel very uneasy. If it was something like that then what had been the point of making sure they didn’t follow after Trace?

“Sadly, no it is a different choice…” Rascmon answered as he looked away from Takeru up to where Trace was at. He couldn’t see his partner from this far away but he could tell where he was from the way Seraphimon and Yumimon were positioned.

‘What kind of choice then?” Kohana asked as she looked at the dog Digimon sharing in Takeru’s uneasiness.

“Whether or not she’s willing to die for her brother,” Rascmon answered not looking at either of the teenagers while the rest of the Chosen Children turned their attention to him as Takeru’s eyes widened.

“Wait, what do you mean if she’s willing to die or not for her brother?” Taichi questioned, “Why is it different from the game’s choice? From what I understood this entire thing was following that game script!”

“You are right Child of Courage, what has happened is indeed because Shaitanmon is following the script and Yumimon is playing her part as well. The problem is that neither Takeru nor Patamon are part of the ‘game. There is no boy to fight the evil brother using his and her magic as well as the sisters feelings,” he began and glanced at Takeru for a moment hoping the teen wouldn’t somehow blame himself for what was going to happened later on, “This is now about a Digimon egg that somehow got its data corrupted by a games coding. Instead of only one Digimon being hatched from this egg as it’s coding originally had decided twin Digimon came from the egg. There wasn’t enough coding to go between the two Digimon. How they have lived this long I can only guess, but someone or something is taking advantage of the split coding. They used it to be able to hide within Shaitanmon’s body without anyone ever noticing they where there. What most believed was a split personality that had developed was in fact something else entirely.

“With everything that is going on there is only one fate for the two of them. Only one of them can survive and she has to either chose herself which Trace will take the coding she needs from her brother after your Digimon defeat him or…” Rascmon paused looking down not really wanting to finish his sentence.

“Or what? She has to choose to die and give her bother the half of her coding she needs?” Yamato asked his eyes narrowing.

“Yes… They can no longer survive apart. If she chooses to let her brother live and her death Trace will take the coding from her. Then he will give it to either Takeru or Seraphimon depending on where exactly it’s suppose to go and then it will have to be forced into Shaitanmon somehow. He doesn’t need a part of her data like Kohana’s Father believed he needs all of it. This should fix him and return him to the Digimon he was supposed to be not the Digimon he is now. It will cause him to reset completely. He will revert back to his egg stage and when he hatches this time around he will have no memory. It’ll be like he’s a brand new Digimon and this time he will become Kohana’s Digimon. If Yumimon is willing to die for her brother that is,” Rascmon explained. Takeru glanced at Kohana seeing her face was pale once again, but he doubted it was due to pain this time…

“This really isn’t all that fair for Yumimon,” Daisuke stated glancing up at the angelic Digimon as he crossed his arms across his chest. Why did things have to turn out like this?

“Since when has life ever been fair?” Rascmon asked looking at the younger goggle head and Daisuke had to admit to himself that the dog Digimon had a point but he wasn’t going to admit it aloud.

“Why didn’t Trace say anything to us earlier when he explained how the card worked?” Takeru asked which caused Rascmon to look at him with a sad expression on his face.

“He didn’t want any of you trying to stop him. He had also hoped that another solution would present itself but since it has only been forty-eight hours since he got the card he couldn’t find one. What about you? Did you, the Chosen Children, figure out something else that may work?” Rascmon asked and when none of the others spoke he sighed, “I thought not but I could hope.”

“Yumimon… Will she be able to be reborn?” Kohana asked her voice just barely above a whisper.

Rascmon sighed again and looked at her. “I do not know. It has been proven that Digimon who are erased within the Human world stand a chance of being unable to be reborn. There is also the fact that if she chooses to die for her brother she will be surrendering her very essence to Trace. Basically Yumimon would cease to exist so I do not think she can be… The only thing we can do is hope that she can be…” Rascmon answered then looked away again not wanting to see the expressions that were on their faces.

-x-

“What do you mean she has to choose whether her brother lives or she herself lives?” Seraphimon shouted as he looked at Trace, who had just explained the same thing to the two angelic Digimon that Rascmon had explained to the humans below.

“Just what I said their data is too unstable the choices are simple. Either she dies and her brother lives or he dies and she lives,” Trace summarized.

“Then how have she and Shaitanmon been able to live for four years without any problem?” Seraphimon asked. He did not like where this was going because he already had a feeling he knew which Yumimon would choose.

“As long as they stayed together they would have been fine, but the thing is they would never have been able to separate from one another for very long. When Red took over Tsumon’s body the Digimon known as Shaitanmon no longer had any desire to stay near Yumimon and as it is now there is now way he’ll just stop what he’s doing and quietly stay by his sisters side for the rest of their lives!. These are the choices she has to make Seraphimon and you had better stay out of this!” Trace shouted his eyes narrowing knowing full well just how much Seraphimon valued his friends. He feared the angelic Digimon would try to stop him midway through the process. When Seraphimon did not leave, however, Trace just shook his head. “If you interfere Seraphimon at any point realize you damn her to a very painful death,” he warned turning his attention to Yumimon. “What do you choose Yumimon?” Like Seraphimon, he believed he knew what she would choose, but he needed to hear it from her first.

“Do Takeru-kun and the others know about this?” Yumimon asked.

“Rascmon should have explained it to them by now, so yes. I have a feeling you already knew something like this was going to happen. After all you came to talk to me…” He pointed out and Yumimon nodded her head.

“Yumimon we can do something else Takeru and the others will think of something!” Seraphimon told her hoping to delay her choice not wanting to lose one of his friends.

“There isn’t any other way Seraphimon. It’s like he said one of us has to die or both of us will. I always knew something was wrong I mean who ever heard of a child Digimon that had no attack ability whatsoever?” She asked as she smiled at Seraphimon. “I am glad that I am going to be able to save my brother and because of this Kohana will get the Digimon partner that she always wanted.”

“Then you are going to go through with this?” Seraphimon asked his voice sounding sad.

“Yes remember Seraphimon your job is to keep Takeru and the others safe. You don’t have to worry about me,” Yumimon told him.

“Then you choose your own death?” Trace asked wanting to confirm her choice.

“Yes, I want my brother to be the one to live,” she answered.

“Follow me then. If I do this up here I am going to fall to my death when I’m done,” Trace told her and she nodded as the two of them began to descend Seraphimon following them. “Remember Seraphimon you better not interfere with this,” he warned and Seraphimon nodded. The three of them landed in front of the Chosen Children and the wall of flames disappeared as Rascmon began walking towards him. Takeru glanced at Kohana then quickly followed after Rascmon, Kohana not too far behind.

“You’ve made your choice then?” Takeru asked looking up at Yumimon as he walked up beside Seraphimon. She nodded looking at Trace who held the card up to her. Yumimon carefully took the card from him. It glowed for a moment and then turned completely golden the words changing from choice to silver letters that spelled out ‘sacrifice’.

“If you need all of the coding form her why did you need your brother’s ability to find anything?” Takeru asked looking at Trace.

Trace looked at him. “His power to find anything didn’t find the coding we needed it found the solution we needed. The card has his power in it in order to make sure we’re not going to make a mistake. The fact it’s changed like it has means that we really have found the correct solution,” he explained and Takeru looked down having hoped he had found a loop hole or something so this really didn’t need to happen.

Yumimon looked at Takeru and gently pat him on the head causing the teen to look up at her. “Don’t worry Takeru. This is just fixing things to the way they were supposed to be before someone messed with our coding. Technically one of us wasn’t supposed to exist and because I don’t have a partner like my brother I believe it is me who isn’t supposed to exist,” she told him then she turned her attention to Kohana. “Please take good care of my brother Kohana-chan,” she said smiling and Kohana looked at her then ran up to the Angelic Digimon hugging her. Yumimon smiled softly hugging Kohana back for a bit then she gently pushed the teen away from her taking a few steps back as well.

Trace walked towards Yumimon placing his hands on the back of the card one on top of the other. “Ready?” he asked and she slowly nodded. “I am sorry it had to end this way,” Trace whispered as he closed his eyes and concentrated as his wings disappeared. The card began to glow and slowly the light grew brighter and brighter until it was hard to look at the two.

Shaitanmon turned to look at the small group at the ground after throwing Imperialdramon FM into Omegamon. His eyes narrowed when he saw what was going on as he began to dive at them to attack. “Like hell I’m going to allow you to do that! Devil’s Descent!” he shouted firing the attack at them.

Seraphimon flew above the group determined to make sure this worked so Yumimon wouldn’t have to suffer the painful death Trace had said waited for her if it was interrupted. “Judgment!” he shouted firing his attack to counterattack Shaitanmon’s. When the attacks collided Shaitanmon was sent flying away from the group and it took a lot of strength on Seraphimons part to keep from being thrown into the group. Ofanimon quickly chased after Shaitanmon to keep him occupied. She had no clue what was going on, but if Seraphimon obviously didn’t want him near the bright light then she would make sure he stayed far away from it. Soon Imperialdramon FM joined her and Omegamon joined Seraphimon on guard duty. Shaitanmon stopped himself and flew towards the group again only to have Ofanimon tackle him to the ground and this time she made sure it wasn’t her that crashed into it.

The light vanished and when Takeru was able to actually see again Trace was standing by himself. Cupped in his hands were a bunch of 00’s and 01’s that were glowing softly and he stood there for a moment staring at it with an expression of sadness on his face. “Why can I only destroy things,” he muttered to himself knowing only Rascmon would be able to hear him. He shook his head and turned to face Takeru. “Now I just need to figure out what do with this,” Trace said as he walked over to Takeru.

“What do you mean?” Takeru asked his eyes narrowing slightly. If Trace had done this without knowing what he was supposed to do next, Takeru would most likely hit him and he doubted anyone except maybe Rascmon would try and stop him.

“Calm down, I just don’t know if I’m suppose to give it you or if the data is suppose to be given to Seraphimon either way I know it’ll be Seraphimon who has to force it into Shaitanmon,” Trace explained and Takeru slowly nodded taking a deep breath to calm down. When Trace was standing in front of Takeru his D-3 started shinning ever so slightly. Both Trace and Takeru noticed this causing Takeru to pull his D-3 out of his pocket. The D-3’s screen flashed and the data Trace held in his hands flashed back in response.

“I guess we know where it goes now,” Takeru said looking at Trace who nodded. Takeru held out his D-3 to Trace, who carefully placed the data onto the D-3. The D-3 absorbed the data shinning very brightly for a few minutes and when it had stopped the D-3 had changed. Where the D-3 was once white was now green and where it had been green was now gold.

“Huh… I was expecting something a bit bigger…” Trace said as he legs gave out on him causing him to call onto his butt.

“Are you okay?” Rascmon asked sitting beside him.

“Yes… Just worn out is all, but I really was expecting something else to happen,” Trace said looking up at Takeru.

Takeru stared at his D-3 before turning his attention to Trace. “What exactly, were you expecting to happen?” Takeru asked as there was a bright flash of light above them.

Trace looked up as Seraphimon began to glow golden. “Oh I don’t know something like that maybe?” Trace said smiling slightly. When Takeru’s D-3 had only changed in color there was a part of him that feared he might have made a mistake despite the precautions Luna had put within the card. After all no one could know everything not even his sister who watched over time or the one who guarded fate. He was just glad that it seemed to be working out.

-x-

Seraphimon starred at his hands as he glowed wondering what was going on. He watched as the blue parts of his armor on his right arm and shoulder disappeared. If the blue armor on his left arm was still there it would have vanished as well. The lower part of his helmet disappeared as well as the point on the top of it. The design on the helmet changed to where it looked like he had the upper part of a cross over his face and the two feather like things that came from the sides of his helmet turned into wings. The lower part of his face was also no longer covered. The steel armor on his left upper arm vanished and the armor on his left forearm shifted and changed into a shield an oval golden stone above his hand. On his right arm the upper steel armor changed to where it was several pieces in order to allow for better arm movement. On his right hand appeared something much like what he had as Holy Angemon but it was shaped different coming to a point at his middle finger while rounding off on the back with two wings coming from the side. The design on his chest piece disappeared, a small skeleton keyhole mark appearing above his left breast. His steel plakat shifted to where the crest of hope piece was now above were a human would have had a belly button while the steel armor that covered the lower part of his stomach and hips shifted downward as well centering around the crest of hope changing to where it wasn’t rounded but more angular. This left his lower stomach bare allowing the black skin tight outfit he wore to show through. The armor on his thighs vanished while the armor like boots remained as well as he breech cloth with the DigiCode on it. The steel armor turned white while what was left of the blue armor remained its original color.

Seraphimon had to admit it felt strange having less armor then what he had before, but he did feel lighter now. He moved his right arm slightly not at all surprised when Excalibur appeared from the thing on top of his right hand. _It’s a mixture of this stage and Holy Angemon_ he thought to himself.

 

-x-

Takeru stared at Seraphimon for a moment before looking at his D-3 the words Guardian Mode flashing on the screen. “It’s like Imperialdramon’s Paladin Mode…” Daisuke commented as he glanced up at Seraphimon.

“Let’s just hope he follows normal rules now… I mean someone who moves fast when wearing heavy armor should move faster once they lose most of said heavy armor,” Trace told them.

“I hope so, but the Digital World almost never follows normal rules,” Ken pointed out and the others agreed with him, but there were times it did follow normal rules. They were all hoping this was one of those times.

-x-

Omegamon glanced at Seraphimon GM then over to where Ofanimon had tackled Shaitanmon. “We should be able to beat him now…” he commented

“Yes, that’s the way this is supposed to work…” Seraphimon GM said flying over to join Ofanimon and Imperialdramon FM who were waiting for Shaitanmon to start fighting again.

Shaitanmon who was standing in the crater he had caused when Ofanimon had tackled him to the ground looked up at Seraphimon GM. “Just because he changed appearances you guys think you can win?” Shaitanmon said and laughed as he flew up at top speed aiming for Ofanimon. “Decaying Claw!”

Not only was Seraphimon GM able to keep track of where Shaitanmon was going, but he was even able to match his speed proving it by flying in front of Ofanimon in time to kick him away from her. Shaitanmon almost crashed into a sky scrapper having really believed nothing had changed about the angelic Digimon except appearance so he had been surprised when the angelic Digimon had been able to hit him.

Ofanimon grinned. “Yes I do believe we can win now!” she cheered and would have stuck her tongue out at Shaitanmon if it wouldn’t seem immature at this stage of her evolution. It was very tempting though.

-x-

Takeru smiled when he saw Seraphimon GM kick Shaitanmon glad that Yumimon’s sacrifice wasn’t going to be in vain. The blonde teen then turned to look at Trace. “How is he supposed to transfer the data to Shaitanmon?” he asked.

Trace, who kept an eye on the battle, shrugged saying, “Seraphimon will have to figure that out for himself.”

Takeru sighed looking back up at the fight. “How did I know you were going to say that,” Takeru mumbled.

Trace having heard him turned his attention to Takeru. “Out of the two of us I think you would be the one to know how he supposed to do it. I mean, until a month ago, the only interaction I have had with Digimon is Rascmon. Unlike you Takeru, I have never really participated in a Digimon battle nor have I seen the strange miracles you guys manage to pull off. Hell, I’m still getting use to the stupid fact that they always shout out their attack names giving an advantage to whomever their fighting yet no one ever seems to take this advantage!” Trace told him.

-x-

Omegamon, Ofanimon and Imperialdramon FM backed away from the fighting not wanting to get dragged into it which would cause more trouble for Seraphimon GM. Shaitanmon glared at Ofanimon wishing he could rip her wings off for her comment but instead he turned his attention to Seraphimon GM. He was the more problematic one at the moment. “Game Over!” he shouted hoping to catch the angelic Digimon and finish the fight. Seraphimon GM, however, could now move faster than the chains easily dodging the attack as he flew at Shaitanmon. Shaitanmon seemed to have expected this though having a second attack ready, “Devil’s Descent!”

“Judgment!” Seraphimon GM shouted counterattacking, but like usual the two attacks sent the Digimon flying in two different directions. Seraphimon GM was caught by Omegamon before he was able to hit a sky scrapper while Shaitanmon managed to stop himself just as his back touched one.

“It seems your powers are still equal to each other…” Omegamon commented as he let Seraphimon GM go.

“Hopefully that isn’t correct,” Seraphimon GM said as he flew after Shaitanmon at top speed. If Omegamon’s observation was correct then what had been the point of doing this in the first place?

Shaitanmon pushed away from the building flying towards Seraphimon also at top speed. “Decaying Claw!” Shaitanmon shouted aiming for Seraphimon GM’s chest. Seraphimon GM couldn’t dodge in time with the speed the two of them were at so instead he blocked with the shield on his left arm. When the attack had struck Shaitanmon pushed himself away grinning for a moment until he saw that the shield wasn’t melting away. In fact, it looked like it hadn’t been hit at all.

It was Seraphimon GM’s turn to grin. “It looks like your attacks are becoming obsolete, Shaitanmon,” Seraphimon GM told him causing Shaitanmon to growl at him.

“Not all of them are angel boy!” Shaitanmon shouted at him as he flew towards Seraphimon GM.

“Then let’s make it all of them shall we!” Seraphimon GM shouted flying at Shaitanmon

Shaitanmon’s eyes narrowed as he suddenly changed into a dive thinking better of attacking Seraphimon GM directly. Seraphimon GM chased after him wondering what he was doing now. Shaitanmon began charging his attack as he dove changing directions to fly horizontally. The sudden change in direction threw Seraphimon GM off causing the gap between the two Digimon to grow even larger. It was about then that Seraphimon GM began to realize just what Shaitanmon was planning as he dove a bit more to where he was lower than Shaitanmon then chased after him. When the two Knight Digimon and Ofanimon also figured out where Shaitanmon was heading they followed after the two Digimon as fast as they could.

Shaitanmon was heading straight for the Chosen Children intending on taking them out with the attack he was charging. He stopped when he was right above them giving no chance for the Digimon who had stayed out of the battle to move in and protect them. “I am growing tired of this!” Shaitanmon shouted his eyes narrowed as he glared down at the Chosen Children. “Devil’s Descent!”

-x-

“Shit! Not good!” Trace shouted and tried to stand up in order to do something but only fell done once again. What a time to not have any energy left! Rascmon the only Digimon currently around stood up growling. He’d be damned if he let the kids get hurt.

“Cerberus Fire!” Rascmon shouted firing the hot flames at Shaitanmon’s attack. The attack, however, did nothing. Takeru helped Trace stand as the other Chosen Children began trying to move away from the attack but it was quite clear they couldn’t move away fast enough.

Rascmon glared up at the attack. “No, I am not going to allow you to harm them!” he shouted and Trace’s Digivice from inside his pants pocket flashed and a light surrounded Rascmon causing him to evolve. The dog-like Digimon changed to where he was now the same size as what Garurumon was. His flame like fur was still there including the black areas but all the other colors had been replaced by white. The piercing on his one ear had remained as well. His golden eyes had changed to a milky blue. Around his neck was a thick leather collar, the clasp facing the front with a thick black chain dangling from the back of it. On both his front legs were metal shackles that also had the thick black chains up to five links long attached to them. The dog like Digimon looked up at the attack. “White Blaze!” he shouted firing white flames from his mouth.

This time his attack managed to slow Shaitanmon’s attack not by much but enough for Seraphimon GM to get in between the Chosen Children and the attack before it managed to hit them. “Guardian’s Shield!” he shouted as a large golden shield with the crest of hope on it appeared above him. The attack was much too close to the Chosen Children to try counterattacking it with Judgment without them getting caught up in the explosion that would happen. Seraphimon GM also didn’t have enough time to charge an attack that would be powerful enough. At this point defending was his best and only option. As the attack hit the shield, Seraphimon GM placed both hands on the back of the shield pushing back against the attack hoping at this point to at least give enough time for either the Chosen Children to get away on their own or the other Digimon could get them away.

The fire dog Digimon looked up at Seraphimon GM then turned his attention to Trace lying down. “Get on Trace you’ll only slow the others down at this rate,” he told him.

Trace stared for a second in shock then shook his head and with the help of Takeru got onto his Digimon’s back pulling the younger teenager up behind him as well. “So much for not being able to evolve…” Trace commented as Takeru helped Kohana onto the Digimon’s back.

He shrugged and began moving the three out of the way of the attack as the other Digimon arrived doing the same with the rest of the Chosen Children.

-x-

Seraphimon GM watched as the Chosen Children where moved to safety hoping Omegamon, Imperialdramon FM and Ofanimon where going to stay with them this time. _After this they most likely will…_ Seraphimon GM thought as he and the shield was pushed down somewhat. He knew he had at least one more new attack and was waiting for the right moment to use it which was when Shaitanmon would let his guard down. _Which is probably right about now actually…_ he thought to himself as he pulled his right hand away from the shield while allowing Excalibur to extend fully out. “Judgment!” Seraphimon GM shouted firing the attack from his left hand causing the shield to crack and shatter due to attacks from both sides. He wanted to make it look like the attack had managed to overpower him which is why he had destroyed his own shield. The judgment attack kept going, however, meeting Shaitanmon’s Devil’s Descent. As the two attacks connected it caused an explosion. Seraphimon GM flew upwards his right arm extended in front of him as he flew through the explosion and into Shaitanmon’s Devil’s Descent. The angelic Digimon was being damaged from doing this, but it was the only way he was going to get close enough to attack Shaitanmon with his new skill…

Shaitanmon, who was watching from above, tilted his head to the side when his Devil’s Descent attack began descending towards the ground once again. _So did angel boy die then?_ he wondered knowing that it was most likely the only ay his attack would continue like this… but… it seemed to easy…

“I hope he knows what he’s doing…” Ofanimon said as she landed on the ground Hikari as well as Iori in her arms because Ankylomon could not move fast enough to help evacuate the Chosen Children. He was now making his way over to the others.

“Seraphimon has never been brash before so he has to have some type of plan,” Omegamon pointed out having both Taichi and Yamato on his back with Jou in his arms Zudamon being another one to slow to make it.

“He better…” Ofanimon stated knowing full well what would happen if Seraphimon GM failed…

-x-

Seraphimon GM held his left hand in front of his face as he continued to push through Shaitanmon’s attack. The angelic Digimon had fired off Strike of the Seven Stars to be able to make his way further through the attack without causing himself too much damage but he could still feel where he was being hurt by the attack. _This better work or I’ll never hear the end of it…_ he thought to himself. The angelic Digimon broke free of the attack spotting Shaitanmon above him. Flying at his top speed so the devil Digimon didn’t have a chance to react to his sudden appearance he flew straight at him as Excalibur went from its normal purple to a golden color. “Caledwlch!” Seraphimon GM shouted as he stabbed Shaitanmon in the chest with Excalibur.

When nothing appeared to happen, Shaitanmon grinned and grabbed a hold of Excalibur to pull himself off it, but as he tried to move he found he couldn’t. Eyes narrowing Shaitanmon tried once again to pull himself off the sword but once again failed to do so. He turned his attention to Seraphimon GM who was calmly watching him. “What did you do?” he shouted grabbing onto the sword hard enough to cut the palm of both his hands.

“Returning the key,” Seraphimon GM stated causing Shaitanmon’s eyes to widen as he tried even harder to pull himself off the sword. Golden lines began appearing on Shaitanmon’s skin from the sword spreading out in a way that reminded Seraphimon GM of the blood veins he knew humans to have. Seraphimon GM leaned forward slightly whispering, “It’s over Red.”

Shaitanmon closed his eyes and laughed. He stopped laughing as he opened his eyes glaring at Seraphimon GM. “This is only the beginning!” he hissed.

Seraphimon GM shook his head as the golden lines completely spread into Shaitanmon’s body knowing their concept of end at the moment was different. “No, you’re wrong. This is the end,” he informed him as Excalibur retracted turning back into its original purple. He flew back a bit as Shaitanmon’s body began to slowly change into 01’s and 00’s and Shaitanmon began to laugh once again. “You wish…” he whispered, but Seraphimon GM was able to hear him then the devil Digimon continued to laugh.

Once again the angelic Digimon shook his head as he slowly began changing back to normal. What Seraphimon had meant when he said it was the end was that Shaitanmon was no longer going to appear. He fully knew what Takeru had been shown by Lee, which meant that there was a chance another battle was to come, but Seraphimon had only meant that this battle in itself was over. Seraphimon knew when Tsumon was reborn he would never evolve to this stage again. Shaitanmon would never appear again.

For an instant Shaitanmon’s eyes turned lavender tears falling from his eyes as he whispered, “Yumimon…” Then the devil Digimon’s body completely changed into data. The data flashed for a moment before converting into a Digital Egg. Seraphimon caught it before it had a chance to fall to the ground. The egg was white with a lavender diamond patter on it and the egg felt warm to the touch. Sighing Seraphimon looked at the egg smiling softly. “There is someone waiting for you,” he told it rubbing the egg gently before he began to descend to the ground.

-x-

The Chosen Children had watched in silence as Seraphimon GM had beaten Shaitanmon, but several of the other people who had watched had cheered. Takeru by then had climbed off the dog Digimon’s back and had helped Kohana off as well having made sure to keep an eye on the battle the entire time. Right when the data had flashed there had been a flash of light in front of Kohana her Digivice appearing in front of her in the normal clear blue as everyone else’s. She carefully grabbed a hold of it starring down at it in her hands. Smiling softly she showed it to Takeru who smiled as well. Kohan looked at the Digivice once more her smile slipping a bit when she thought about everything that had happened just for her to get this. Looking down at the ground she carefully put it in her pocket before she looked back up at Seraphimon telling herself that there would be time to celebrate later.

All of the Digimon began to devolve and all of them where back to their Child Stages by the time Seraphimon had landed on the ground. The angelic Digimon walked over to where Takeru and Kohana where standing. “Kohana, here,” Seraphimon said holding the egg out to her. Kohana took a few steps forward gently taking the egg from Seraphimon.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she hugged the Digi-Egg to herself hiding her face behind it afraid she would start crying. Seraphimon nodded then devolved back down to Tokamon. The small Digimon glanced at Takeru who was watching Kohana trying to figure something out to say to her. Tokamon walked over to Kohana gently tugging on her pant leg with his teeth so as not to rip them with his many rows of teeth. Kohana looked down to him then shifted the egg to one arm to where she could bend down to pick Tokamon up. The small Digimon climbed up onto her shoulder and whispered into her ear.

What Tokamon told Kohan Takeru couldn’t hear, but she nodded a few times before lifting her head up. She smiled softly again as she turned her attention to Takeru. “Thank you,” she told him. Takeru blinked once again confused as to why he was being thanked because he hadn’t done anything, but instead of asking her why this time he just smiled and nodded. Kohana then turned her attention to Trace. The older teen was still on his Digimon’s back though he had leaned forward slightly too where he could pet the Dog Digimon on the head. “Thank you, Trace,” Kohana said and Trace glanced at her then shook his head looking at his Digimon’s back. He didn’t really feel anything he had done deserved to be thanked, but at the moment he also didn’t feel like arguing against it.

Unlike the last big fight they had with Shaitanmon all of the Chosen Children and Digimon stuck around several of the Digimon having to re-evolve in order to help clear up some of the rubble from the fight. The sun had risen since then and with it several police as well as reporters had shown up. Takeru turned his attention from Digmon, who was attempting to fill in some of the craters in the park, to Taichi and his older brother. The tow of them were busy talking to some of the police that had shown up while their two Digimon followed instructions from others on what to do with some of the rubble. Shaking his head Takeru wondered just how those two always managed to deal with this. He watched as Koushirou walked over to them before Takeru turned his attention back to Digmon.

As for Tokamon, he sat on top of Takeru’s head asleep. He had offered to help several times despite knowing he most likely couldn’t evolve at the moment, but had been turned down so finally the Digimon had decided to just sleep and catch up on some of his energy. In a lot of ways to Takeru, this seemed too easy on how all of it had ended. He had expected it to be a lot harder than it was, but then again he had also believed Yumimon would still be alive at the end of the battle. Of course he knew that nothing when it came to Digimon was predictable. Just when you thought you had them and the Digital World figured out something would come along and throw everything into chaos only have to be figured out once again. It was something that a lot of people disliked about Digimon and the Digital World in general, but Takeru and the Chosen Children had learned to accept it knowing there was nothing they could do about it.

Sighing, Takeru put his hands into his pockets and walked over to the bench Trace was sitting at. The older teen had wanted to also help clean up, but had only been able to move to the bench with Takeru’s help. His Digimon had instead gone to try and help Digmon fill in some of the craters. Trace was leaning back against the bench his eyes closed with his chin resting against his chest and Takeru thought he might have been asleep. Trace, however, opened his eyes upon hearing Takeru approach turning his head to look t the younger teenager. Takeru sat down beside him. “Thank you for helping us Trace,” Takeru said looking at him.

Trace eyes narrowed at first not sure if Takeru was being serious or not, but when he realized he was he laughed though it was void of any humor. “First she thanks me now you do… Mind telling me what exactly I did that deserves thanks?” he asked stuffing his hands into his sweaters pocket as he looked away.

Takeru had noticed his response to Kohana thanking him and wasn’t all surprised by how he reacted to Takeru’s as well. Takeru looked over to where Kohana stood by Hikari. She was still holding the Digi-egg tightly against her chest almost as if she was afraid it would disappear and if she was Takeru couldn’t blame her. “Without your help this would have ended up a lot different…” Takeru told him.

Trace turned his attention to Takeru then to Kohana as well. The older teen knew something that none of the others knew. What Yumimon had said about not having a Chosen Child was in fact false. If Yumimon had chose to save herself instead of Shaitanmon she would have ended up reverting back to a Digi-Egg like Shaitanmon had done and she would have been Kohana’s Digimon instead. It was something that still slightly confused Trace. The Digi-Egg when it was first created should have appeared in Kohana’s care _not_ Primary Village like it had done because it was destined to be her Digimon from the start. He knew the reason why it had ended up in Primary Village would remain a mystery as well as how the two had managed to live apart from each other for the short time.

He hadn’t told Yumimon the truth because he knew her choice would still be the same all that would happen is it would be harder for the others to accept it. Trace would keep it to himself that she could have had Yumimon as a Digimon instead. There was nothing that could be done to change what had happened and telling the others would just upset them. Trace wasn’t the type of person that went around upsetting others just because he was upset. He wasn’t that much of a jerk. “There is no telling how it would have ended,” Trace told him sighing.

Takeru glanced at Trace and decided it would be best to change the subject since there seemed to be nothing that could change the older teen’s feelings at the moment. “What’s the name of Rascmon’s Adult Stage?” Takeru asked as he leaned back against the bench knowing talking about his Digimon would cheer him up.

Trace looked over at the large white and black Dog Digimon smiling slightly. The Dog Digimon had been distracted from his task by a kid that couldn’t be older than five. Trace had no clue what had caused his Digimon to turn his attention to the kid, but if he had to guess he would say something must have upset the small child. “He said it was Kusarimon…” Trace answered knowing Kusari meant chain in Japanese. He could only figure it had something to do with the chains on his collar and the chained shackles on his feet. He was a bit curious as to why his Digimon’s name had gone from being English based to Japanese based but knew that it was another question that wouldn’t be answered.

Takeru nodded also noticing that Kusarimon had been distracted by the child. “Maybe we should have put him on crowd control instead of clean up,” Takeru said smiling slightly and Trace nodded in agreement.

The two teens sat there for awhile until Trace finally stood and stretched. He had recovered enough of his energy to at least walk around without falling over. He looked at Takeru before looking back over to where the fight had taken place. “I need to go locate my key before someone else does…” Trace told him not wanting to have to deal with trying to get it from someone else. Takeru nodded and watched as Trace walked off before he too stood up walking over to Hikari and Kohana.

Kohana looked up at him as he approached. “This all feels strange somehow,” she told him rubbing the egg gently. Before Tokamon had fallen asleep the small Digimon had explained to her the rules for taking care of a Digi-egg.

Takeru nodded in agreement. “It takes a while to get use to,” Takeru told her.

“Is it really something that you can get use to?” Kohana asked.

Takeru had to think over her question for a moment wondering if she meant the battle itself, being a Chosen Child, or about losing a friend. Either way out of the three the only one that was easy to get use to was being a Chosen Child. “Some things you’ll get use to… Others you just have to pray and hope they don’t happen again,” Takeru told her placing his hands in his jacket pocket.

Hikari turned to look at Kohana placing a hand on the Digi-egg. “At least if another battle does come up you’ll be able to help fight,” Hikari told her knowing it had upset Kohana that she really hadn’t been able to do anything to help the others.

“Also you’ll never have to worry about ever being alone again,” Takeru told her and Kohana nodded smiling softly as she gently hugged the egg.

The Chosen Children would be there for many more hours in order to help clean up after the battle. Taichi, Koushirou, and Yamato had somehow managed to keep the police from getting to mad at what had happened, but then again they really had no right to be since they were taking care of a rouge Digimon. Something the police themselves couldn’t handle even if they tried. Not one of this level at least because police had Digimon those of which were also helping where they could. Kusarimon had after awhile gone back to helping Digmon fill the craters back up and once they were done he had devolved to Rascmon to help Trace locate his key. Several of the Chosen Children including Takeru had offered to help him in his search but he declined saying it was better for him to find it on his own even if it took him all day to do so.

It was almost afternoon before they had done all they could and the Chosen Children where more than glad to be able to head home several of whom decided going to bed when they reached it was a very good idea. Tokamon had woken up by then and was able to evolve into Patamon then Amor Evolve to Pegasmon so Takeru didn’t have to walk home. He had also volunteered to take Kohana home. She had ridden behind Takeru keeping one arm around her Digi-egg while the other one was around Takeru’s waist.

Pegasmon had landed in the parking lot of Kohana’s apartment complex and Takeru had helped her down. They said good bye to one another and Kohan began heading towards the stairs to the apartment complex but she paused turning to look at Takeru. Takeru glanced at her and he saw her open her mouth open to say something but then she closed it smiling as she shook her head slightly. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Takashi-kun,” she told him then she turned around and started walking towards the stairs.

Takeru watched her for a moment wondering what she had been going to say before she had changed her mind. Sighing, he just shrugged and climbed onto Pegasmon’s back. The winged horse Digimon took off into the sky to head home. Once they got there Takeru planned to write down some of the stuff that had happened then he planned on spending the rest of the day trying to catch up on some of the sleep he had missed.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – After two years of writing on this version of the story which was originally just posted on ff.net I have finally finished it and I must say I am really shocked. The entire thing however has been planned since November of ’04. I just hope the other stories I have plan don’t take as long as this one. I have learned a lot about writing like you just don’t type something up call it a chapter then post it x_x. I have also learned that there is a lot involved in writing a story. The story had ended up to be roughly around 165 pages not counting author notes.
> 
> As for Seraphimon GM’s attack titled Caledwlch it is welsh and is the origin of Excalibur and I thought it would make a much better attack then what I had originally planned which would have something to do with data resetting. I literally came up with the attack name about a month ago though I had the chapter written for two months I just skipped the attack name to finish it up xD.
> 
> Originally when I wrote this chapter in August '11 Seraphimon GM from the waist down was a lot different. I had drawn up the design for him in April ’11 (yes I knew for that long it was going to happen), but when August came around I started hating it so much so that I had Daisuke the blunt one comment on how strange Seraphimon GM looked (his dialogue was changed to state how it reminded him of Paladin Mode instead). I spent two days staring at the various modes of Digimon through the Seasons until I came up with another design which I ended up splicing together with the first version.
> 
> I will admit killing Calilimon they way I did made me sad. It made me sad the first time I wrote this chapter and when I sat here editing it. I tried for months to figure out a different ending to this story that would result in both the siblings surviving but I could not figure it out. I’ll tell you now killing a character that has been part of your life since you were in High School is not easy at all.
> 
> As I have promised the Epilogue will be posted after this one. There will be a sneak peak of the sequel in it, but please realize it is a rough draft and is likely to be a bit different when I do post it.
> 
> I would like to Thank You all for sticking with me while I wrote this or posted it in this case and I hope you enjoy reading this ^_^ *bows*


	17. Epilogue

Takeru sat at his desk at school starring at the piece of paper sitting on top of it. Typed on it was a question that asked for Takeru’s top three choices of High Schools he wished to attend. The teen had as of yet to figure out which one he wanted to go to let alone his top three choices. Takeru knew he had to write something because if he left it blank the teen had no doubt he would get called to the teacher’s room as well as his mother. He really didn’t feel like dealing with his teachers right now. He of course knew he wanted to be an author but there really wasn’t any high school that could help him with that. He had to wait until college before he really had to worry about that.

Sighing, Takeru wrote down the one he knew the others would be attending. He really shouldn’t have much of a problem getting into and the only reason he hadn’t decided on whether or not he would go to it was mainly because he hadn’t really thought that hard on it. He had been more worried about keeping his grades up after they had slipped and then of course there was the whole ordeal over Shaitanmon. Takeru already knew from something Daisuke had tried to pull that saving the world from Digimon was not a valid excuse in the eyes of the teachers when it came to ones education. As of yet any way, Taichi was trying to get it to become one, but it wasn’t working so far. He had only been able to make it a valid reason for leaving school early.

Of course if he admitted that he hadn’t been thinking on it very hard both his mother and teachers would probably be upset with him, but at this point it was his choice. Takeru picked two others that he had heard his friends mention then put his name on the paper and leaned back in his seat. Now he could only hope this wouldn’t come back to haunt him in the future…

As he waited for the teacher to ask for the papers to be handed in he thought back to what had happened the past ten days since the battle with Shaitanmon. He had tried a few times to call Trace to see if he had managed to find his key, but he always got the message that said Trace was out of his coverage area. Yamato had tried as well, but had gotten the same results as him. Takeru hoped that he had made it home and that was the reason he couldn’t get through, but he believed if that was the case Trace would have told them. Besides that everything had returned to normal for Takeru. He hadn’t had any more nightmares and had been able to catch up on his sleep in a few days after the battle. The burns on his hands where no longer irritated by everything he did, but he did still have to bandage them. As for his leg it was still slightly sore but next month he was scheduled to get the stitches removed. Even Takeru’s D-3 had returned to normal making Takeru wonder if Seraphimon Guardian Mode had been a onetime thing only. It wouldn’t really surprise him if it was, but it would be sad if Patamon could never reach that form again since it had been given to him by Yumimon.

Takeru wouldn’t admit it to anyone not even Patamon, but there where instances when Takeru would question the outcome of the battle. He wondered if it really had to end the way that it had. He often wondered if they had more time to think things over if a different solution to save Shaitanmon would have revealed itself. There was of course no way of knowing now and Takeru knew that such thoughts would only cause him to be further upset over what had happened, but for some reason he couldn’t stop himself from having them no matter how hard he tried. The only thing that seemed to work was losing himself in his writing, but he couldn’t do that too much without chancing his grades falling again as well as alerting Patamon there was indeed something wrong.

As for Patamon the small Digimon had recovered from the battle quite quickly, but there were times that he had a sad expression on his face. Takeru had no doubt that at those times he was thinking about what had happened to Calilimon being closer to her than anyone else. The pictures Takeru had taken of the two had been moved from his camera to his laptop, but as of right now the small Digimon had no interest in them. Hikari had even removed the few copies she had from the open worried that it might upset someone, but had said that there would be a time that everyone would want to see them again and she would gladly put them back out in the open. He had seen Patamon on several occasions talking to Tailmon about what had happened.

From what Takeru knew, the Digi-Egg Kohana had received had yet to hatch. No one was really worried about if figuring it would take awhile for the data to be completely recovered. When Kohana was at school the Digi-Egg was left in the care of her mother who was coming very close to her due date. Kohana’s shoulder was recovering, but it would take longer then Takeru’s leg to heal completely. She was another one that was still really upset over what had happened to Calilimon. Yes, all the Chosen Children did not like the outcome of the battle, but Takeru, Patamon, and Kohana where most affected by it. Takeru had seen Kohana a few times rip a page out of her sketch book that had been the beginning of a drawing of Calilimon. He also had a feeling she questioned the outcome much like he did, but if she did Kohana never shared it with anyone else.

Takeru’s thoughts were interrupted by the teacher asking for the papers to be handed in. The teenager did as he was asked as the bell rang signifying the end of the school day. Takeru gathered his things together waiting for the other students to leave the room before he did knowing the others would probably want to talk about high school choices now that they had made their decision.

Half an hour later found Takeru near the front door of the school switching his indoor shoes for his boots. When he was done he pulled his sweater on as well as put his hat on glancing at Patamon. The small Digimon was sitting on the bench in front of the shoe lockers. He then shifted to standing on his hind legs his ears perked up hearing something coming from further within the school.

Takeru turned to look as well hearing someone running through the hallways _I wonder what’s going on…_ he thought as the person drew near. It didn’t take long for him to realize it was Kohana who was running with her messenger bag over her shoulder and her cell phone in hand. When she spotted Takeru she stopped in front of him smiling. “He’s hatched!” she told him the excitement very evident in her voice.

-x-

Trace sat within the Digital World his back resting against Rascmon who was lying down his head resting on his front paws. They were currently in the middle of a clearing in a forest trying to figure out what they should do next. He had spent three days with the help of Rascmon looking for his key at the site of the battle, but had been unable to find it. With his energy completely recovered Trace had tried to find the key by a form of scrying for its unique energy, but that only served to prove the key was not within the human world. The fact that it wasn’t had worried Trace greatly and he had quickly gone to the Digital world to search for it there. The problem with that was Trace couldn’t scry here within the Digital World. The Digital World was to different for him to even try and he had been warned by Krista not long after Luna had given him Rascmon that some of their abilities where naturally blocked by the way the Digital World was made. At the moment Trace was wishing he could get in contact with his brother to get him to help, but he had a bad feeling that his ability was one that would be blocked. Even if it wasn’t he was still unable to contact any of his siblings unless they called him first which he had been shocked when none of them had after Shaitanmon had been defeated. It put him on edge for some reason even more so then not finding his key within the real world.

Rascmon and he had spent the last week searching the Digital World for the key, but had found nothing so far. They had tried asking several Digimon if they had ever seen Shaitanmon before, but the only ones that could really place the devil Digimon within the Digital World were the ones that had seen him the time he had dragged Kohana into it. Even then it had been hard to get some of them to talk to him about it they had obviously been scared of him, which made Trace wonder if some of the Digimon he had talked too had indeed seen Shaitanmon, but didn’t want to tell him. If that was true it made him wonder if what Lee had warned Takeru about was already back in the Digital World keeping them quite.

Trace fell backwards when without warning Rascmon had stood up growling as the flames on his body began to move quite fast to match his anger. Trace could even feel a slight heat from the flames something that almost never happened. “What’s wrong Rascmon?” Trace asked standing up wondering if it was another Digimon come to challenge them, but he doubted it with how angry Rascmon was.

“Something feels off…” Rascmon tried to explain as he began to circle around Trace growling. He was unsure just which direction he needed to protect Trace from. Trace watched as Rascmon circled not at all liking how he was behaving.

“Rascmon, maybe we should just leave,” Trace suggested just wanting to get out of there by this point and Rascmon began to nod in agreement but stopped moving completely except to perk his ears up. Much to Trace’s shock Rascmon evolved and before Trace could react the Digimon had picked Trace up with his mouth and had tossed him onto his back. Trace barely had enough time to settle onto his back or figure out how he didn’t just get bitten by what his Digimon did before Kusarimon took off running as fast as he could which was pretty fast for an Adult Level Digimon.

Kusarimon’s behavior was making Trace worry even more because the Digimon had not evolved since the battle with Shaitanmon. “Trace, keep your head down!” Kusarimon shouted at him and Trace leaned forward resting his chest against Kusarimon’s back. Trace then felt wind rushing over them noticing that Kusarimon ducked at the same time.

The tops of trees around them began to crash onto the forest floor having been severed from their trunks. Trace glanced back over his shoulder expecting to see some high level sword wielding Digimon, but the teen saw nothing but the trees. Eyes narrowed he was about to say something when Kusarimon jumped to avoid another attack that took out several more tree’s near their base. Trace decided at that point it was best to keep his mouth shut to avoid biting his own tongue off as he grabbed onto Kusarimon’s collar to prevent himself from falling off should his dodging become more extreme.

Kusarimon kept running every once in awhile ducking or jumping to avoid the attacks that seemed to come out of nowhere. When they broke out of the trees into open plains Kusarimon turned around to face their attacker. Trace kept his head down to keep from getting caught up in attack so he really couldn’t see anything past Kusarimon’s head. He felt when his Digimon began to tremble and he took a hesitant step back before shaking his head. The dog Digimon turned around and took off running again pushing his body as hard as he could to gain more speed then he normally would have been aloud. This would cause his energy to drain quickly but at the moment he didn’t care. “Trace, I am sorry but I do not think we will escape this one!” he shouted as he ran now wishing Trace had asked the Chosen Children to help him search the Digital World.

Trace glanced back over his shoulder to try and see what Kusarimon had saw now that there were no more trees’s to hide behind. The teen couldn’t see anything, but something had obviously scared the dog Digimon enough for him to decide to run already knowing they had no chance of escape…

A/N – Yes I am really ending it here. You’ll just have to wait for the sequel to find out what happens to Trace… Or read the preview : 3 I really couldn’t be mean enough to leave you in the dark with that type of ending so just keep scrolling to see what happens. One again, thanks for reading my story I hope that you enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'll post first the one-shot continuation that was originally a Christmas special then I'll edit the Sequel's chapters, over fifteen of them, and post them as the editing is done on each one. Keep an eye out for the one shot and the chapter sequel. For now enjoy the very rough draft preview : 3

Preview of Sequel

A small brown and tan Digimon with bat like wings for ears lay asleep on the couch. He had left the television on having fallen asleep when the news began to play on it. A woman was on the screen reporting what was happening around the world the date appearing below her read April 2007, “ … People who have gone to hospitals to get injuries tended to have been reporting that they have been injured in their dreams only to awaken to find the injuries are real. Experts claim that it is impossible for one to be injured because of their dreams. They say that most likely the people who have been injured where sleep walking. During their sleep walking they somehow injured themselves and this influenced the dreams not the other way around. The people who have been injured argue against this saying that they have awoken in their beds while several others claim there is nothing in their home that could cause the injuries that they have sustained…”

A teenage boy stood in the kitchen chopping vegetables on a cutting board. His sapphire blue eyes were intently focus on what he was doing in order to keep from cutting himself with the knife. The tops of his knuckles on both hands as well as his fingers below the middle knuckle had pale scars caused from burns he had received over four months ago. The sides of his hands that faced away from his body also had such scars, but the teenage boy had grown use to them and only really noticed them when they where pointed out by others. He shifted his stance slightly as he set the knife down to add the vegetables to the beef stew he was cooking. His mother was running late, which occurred far more often than the teen liked, so he had taken it upon himself to make dinner.

With the vegetables added he put the lid on the pot turning it down slightly so it wouldn’t over boil. He then untied the white apron he wore over his green t-shirt and jean pants laying on the counter away from the oven so he could put it on quickly if needed. The teen was heading for the living room to sit while he waited for it to finish cooking when he heard pounding on the door. Eyes narrowing slightly, he walked towards the door not knowing anyone who pounded on the door instead of ringing the doorbell. He glanced over his shoulder to see if the small Digimon had awoken and indeed he had. The Digimon had moved into the hallway his ocean blue eyes focused on the door.

Reassured that he had back up if needed the teen walked the rest of the way to the door unlocking it and opening it. A young boy stood in the front of the apartment door his face covered in the crook of one of his arms as he cried. “Lee?” The older boy asked and the small boy removed his arm looking up at the older teen with his royal blue eyes.

“Takeru-onii-san!” The boy cried dashing over to Takeru burying his face into the older boy’s shirt hugging onto him. Takeru glanced down at the boy wrapping one of his arms around him as he glanced out the door. A bear Digimon stood there with charcoal colored fur and sky blue eyes. He wore an indigo baseball cap backwards on his head. He had a royal blue belt that went over his left shoulder and down to his right hip as well as several matching ones on his paws. Behind him lay a teen older then Takeru that was unconscious with a fiery dog Digimon lying beside him also unconscious. The teen appeared to have several injuries on him that had hastily been treated while it was always impossible to see if the German Sheppard colored fiery dog Digimon had any.

“Lee what happened?” He asked looking down at the boy only able to really see his shoulder length wavy black hair as well the dark green sweater he wore.

The boy looked up sniffing. “I don’t know!” Lee told him and Takeru untangled the younger boy from around him gently pushing him into the apartment as he walked out of it to the older teen. He turned his attention to the bear like Digimon.

“Can you help me carry him in?” he asked. The Digimon nods his head and Takeru walks to the head of the older teen pushing him up into a sitting position so he could get his arms under his and link his hands at his chest. The bear Digimon took the teen’s legs and between the two of them they were able to carry him inside setting him down on the couch. Takeru then walked out again looking at the Dog Digimon. The Digimon was about the size of an adult male wolf and while he had no doubt his partner, the older teen, who was taller than Takeru could carry him Takeru doubted he could. It made Takeru wonder just how Lee and the other Digimon had gotten them here. He turned to look back into the apartment. “Patamon can you evolve to Angemon and carry Rascmon inside?” he asked.

“Yes,” Patamon told him as he flew outside landing near Rascmon. A flash of light later he had evolved into Angemon and was easily able to pick up the fiery Digimon. Takeru followed Angemon inside the house the angelic Digimon walking into the living room. He carefully set the dog Digimon next to the side of the couch then devolved to Patamon.

Takeru looked at Lee who sat in a recliner the bear like Digimon standing beside him his large paw on the small boys arm trying to offer comfort. There were several questions going through his mind, but first he needed to treat the older teen’s injuries better. Takeru left the room heading for the bathroom to fetch a first aid kit. When Takeru came back he kneeled beside the couch setting the first aid kit in front of him. While Takeru wasn’t as good as his friend Jou when it came to treating injuries the teenage boy had taken a few first aid classes after his hands had been burned. As long as the injuries weren’t too serious he could treat them on his own without having to call Jou.

Takeru looked at the older teen having a bad feeling with the amount of bandages Lee had used on his older brothers stomach Jou would have to be called. He kneeled there for a moment and shook his head standing back up walking over to the phone and picking it up heading into the kitchen to check on the stew he was cooking. The teen had decided not to take a chance and that he would call Jou. He just hoped he wasn’t busy with College or work…

-X-

A teenage girl sat at a desk in her room her homework spread out in front of her. She leaned forward to write an answer on it only to have some of her waist length brown hair fall over her shoulder. Sighing, she finishes writing the answer then picks a hair tie up tying her hair back before continuing with her homework. The teen was about to write down another answer when she heard singing that made her stop her movements completely;

_I’ve got a lock_

_A little lock on my mind_

_Rusted open the Key long gone_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

_Oh sweet sanity where have you fled?_

When the person singing had stopped the teen took a deep breath and turned to look at the only window in her room. There in the larger then normal window sill sat a Digimon that looked very much like a young boy starring out the window. The easiest way to tell he was a Digimon was the six pure white angelic wings that came from his back. Takeru had once described what this particular Digimon had once looked like and both she and he had to admit his appearance had change greatly. There was a time his wings had been black instead of white and the blond shoulder length hair that was pulled back into a ponytail had also been black. Instead of the black Tai Chi uniform he had once worn he now had a grey tunic that had bell sleeves the tunic itself ending at the middle of his thigh. Around his waist was a plain leather belt with an iron buckle. He also wore tan breeches and his feet where bare. The only thing that had really reminded the same about the child stage Digimon was his lavender eyes.

“Tsumon, where did you hear that song?” the teen girl asked. The last time she had heard that song was over four months ago when Tsumon had been in his Ultimate Stage attacking Takeru and Patamon with the intent to kill them. Granted it wasn’t Tsumon himself that was attacking, but something that had taken over his body. When Patamon had finally beaten him, he had reverted back to an egg and when he hatched had no memory of what had happened before. The fact that he was singing a song he shouldn’t even remember put her on edge.

Tsumon continues to look out of the window as he answers her, “I heard it in a dream once…” The angelic Digimon then notices how pale her face is and hops out of the window sill walking over to her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

She smiled and told herself to calm down before she answered him, “Nothing’s wrong Tsumon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it’s Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.


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